Giovanni Boccaccio

Article abstract: Boccaccio was the father of Italian and European narrative. He was also a pioneer of Latin and Greek scholarship in the late Middle Ages and, along with Petrarch, a precursor to the Renaissance Humanists.

Early Life

Giovanni Boccaccio was the illegitimate son of a merchant of Certaldo, identified as Boccaccio di Chellino, and was probably born in Florence in June or July, 1313. Some scholars believe that Boccaccio was the product of a relationship between his father and an unknown Parisienne. That, however, is unlikely. Although his...

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