Medieval History
Artist Overview
Florentine Giovanni Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio live from 1313 to December 21, 1375. Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet. He was an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable books including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular. The exact details of his birth are uncertain. Most sources say that he was born either in Florence or in a village near Certaldo where his family was from. . He was the son of a Florentine merchant Boccaccino di Chellino. Boccaccio grew up in Florence. In 1326 Boccaccio moved to Naples with the family when his father was appointed to head the Neapolitan branch of his bank. He eventually persuaded his father to let him study law at the Studium in the city. For the next six years Boccaccio studied canon law there. From there he pursued his interest in scientific and literary studies. In Naples, Boccaccio began what he considered his true vocation, poetry. Works produced in this period include Filostrato, Teseida, and Filocolo, a prose version of an existing French romance, and La caccia di Diana, a poem in terza rima (rhyming verse stanza form that consists of an interlocking three-line rhyme scheme) listing Neapolitan women. Boccaccio returned to Florence in early 1341, avoiding the plague in that city of 1340. From 1347, Boccaccio spent much time in Ravenna, seeking new patronage, and despite his claims, it is not certain whether he was present in plague-ravaged Florence. His stepmother died during the epidemic and his father. His father died in 1349 and as head of the family Boccaccio was forced into a more active