Chiari was born and died in Brescia. He was a Jesuit until leaving the order in 1747. From 1747 to 1762 he was court poet of Duke Francis III of Modena, in Venice, although not at the public cost. During this period he wrote nearly 60 comedies, which from 1761 or earlier often brought him into conflict with his rival Goldoni. With a deep hatred for the style of Molière, Chiari made comédie larmoyante fashionable in Italy under the name commedia fiebile. He also edited the Gazzetta Veneta from 1761 to 1762, when he returned to his birthplace to spend his final years.
(in Italian) Carmelo Alberti, Convegno Un rivale di Carlo Goldoni, l'abate Chiari e il teatro europeo del Settecento, Vicenza, N. Pozza, 1986
(in Italian) Giuseppe Antonelli, Alle Radici della letteratura di consumo : la lingua dei romanzi di Pietro Chiari e Antonio Piazza, Milan, Istituto di propaganda libraria, 1996
(in Italian) Luca Clerici, Il Romanzo italiano del Settecento : il caso Chiari, Venezia, Marsilio, 1997
(in French) Xavier de Courville, Un Artisan de la rénovation théâtrale avant Goldoni Luigi Riccoboni, Paris, 1894
(in French) Pietro Toldo, L’Œuvre de Molière et sa fortune en Italie, Turin, E. Loescher, 1910
