According Ambra Moroncini (2016), Annibale Caro wrote to Benedetto Varchi about a similar dining experience [a feast of the Accademia della Virtù] also on 10 January 1538 . (See: Annibale Caro, Lettere familiari, 1, 59).

Ambra Moroncini (2016):

It is known that in 1538 the Accademia della Virtù met weekly during Carnival, either at the residence of Archbishop Francesco Colonna or that of Claudio Tolomei, to discuss a theme announced in advance. Each meeting was presided over by a key member enthroned as ‘king’ who hosted a feast. In return, the other members, called either ‘vassals’ or ‘fathers’, rewarded him with small gifts accompanied by an after-dinner speech written in either prose or poetry to account for their chosen offerings. It was a way to celebrate indulgence before the austerity of Lent by a ‘competition of Virtue’ through the composition of ingenious and parodoxical encomia of certain foods and objects.

Caro recounted this sort of ritual in his letter to Benedetto Varchi dated 10 March 1538:

Il Giuoco de la Virtù, che voi sapete, crebbe tanto che diventò reame; e questo carnovale vi si son fatte cose divine, perché ogni settimana sedeva un re, quale avea una cena, e ognuno l’avea a presentar d’una stravaganza e d’una composizione, che a gara tanto l’uno dell’altro e gli re e i vassalli hanno fatto cose che danno che a dire a tutta Roma. […] Io ho fatto certe pappolate che Fabio Segni manderà a messer Mattio, perché non ho tempo a copiare.11

[The Game of Virtue, as you know, grew so much that it became as big as a kingdom; and this Carnival we did divine things, since each week a king officiated, who held a dinner, and everyone had to present him with a bizarre object and a composition, and for this reason everyone in competition with each other, both the kings and their vassals, have composed writings that are getting all Rome talking. […] I have composed some pieces of nonsense that Fabio Segni will send to Messer Mattio, since I do not have time to copy them]12

Thomas Platter the Elder publishes in Basel Pomponio Leto's De Antiquitatis Urbis Romae Libellus together with Marliano's Topographia and Publius Victor's De urbis Romae regionibus & locis libellus.

Letter from Annibale Caro to Benedetto Varchi:

(from: Ambra Moroncini (2016)):

It is known that in 1538 the Accademia della Virtù met weekly during Carnival, either at the residence of Archbishop Francesco Colonna or that of Claudio Tolomei, to discuss a theme announced in advance. Each meeting was presided over by a key member enthroned as ‘king’ who hosted a feast. In return, the other members, called either ‘vassals’ or ‘fathers’, rewarded him with small gifts accompanied by an after-dinner speech written in either prose or poetry to account for their chosen offerings. It was a way to celebrate indulgence before the austerity of Lent by a ‘competition of Virtue’ through the composition of ingenious and parodoxical encomia of certain foods and objects.

Caro recounted this sort of ritual in his letter to Benedetto Varchi dated 10 March 1538:

Il Giuoco de la Virtù, che voi sapete, crebbe tanto che diventò reame; e questo carnovale vi si son fatte cose divine, perché ogni settimana sedeva un re, quale avea una cena, e ognuno l’avea a presentar d’una stravaganza e d’una composizione, che a gara tanto l’uno dell’altro e gli re e i vassalli hanno fatto cose che danno che a dire a tutta Roma. […] Io ho fatto certe pappolate che Fabio Segni manderà a messer Mattio, perché non ho tempo a copiare.11

[The Game of Virtue, as you know, grew so much that it became as big as a kingdom; and this Carnival we did divine things, since each week a king officiated, who held a dinner, and everyone had to present him with a bizarre object and a composition, and for this reason everyone in competition with each other, both the kings and their vassals, have composed writings that are getting all Rome talking. […] I have composed some pieces of nonsense that Fabio Segni will send to Messer Mattio, since I do not have time to copy them]12

Footnotes:

11.  Caro, Lettere familiari, 1, 72–73 (there are two versions of the same letter). Caro wrote to Varchi about a similar dining experience also on 10 January 1538 (1, 59).
12.  The translation of all quotations is mine. I am grateful to Lisa Sampson for helpful suggestions.

Dedicatory letter by Caro to Leoni in Blado's print of Caro's commentary to Molza's speech about "figs" for the Accademia della Virtù. [Caro 1538: 98]