Valdarfer boccaccio biography

Giovanni Boccaccio 16 June — 21 December was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch , and an important Renaissance humanist. He wrote his imaginative literature mostly in the Italian vernacular , as well as other works in Latin, and is particularly noted for his realistic dialogue which differed from that of his contemporaries, medieval writers who usually followed formulaic models for character and plot.

Situating Boccaccio and his works in their cultural contexts, the Companion introduces a wide range of his texts, paying close attention to his formal innovations, elaborate voicing strategies.

He was born in Florence or in a village near Certaldo where his family was from. Boccaccio grew up in Florence. His father worked for the Compagnia dei Bardi and, in the s, married Margherita dei Mardoli, who was of a well-to-do family. Boccaccio may have been tutored by Giovanni Mazzuoli and received from him an early introduction to the works of Dante.

In , his father was appointed head of a bank and moved with his family to Naples. Boccaccio was an apprentice at the bank but disliked the banking profession. He persuaded his father to let him study law at the Studium the present-day University of Naples , where he studied canon law for the next six years. He also pursued his interest in scientific and literary studies.

A comprehensive biography of the celebrated author of the Decameron, a medieval masterpiece written in early Italian.

His father introduced him to the Neapolitan nobility and the French-influenced court of Robert the Wise the king of Naples in the s. It seems that Boccaccio enjoyed law no more than banking, but his studies allowed him the opportunity to study widely and make good contacts with fellow scholars. His early influences included Paolo da Perugia a curator and author of a collection of myths called the Collectiones , humanists Barbato da Sulmona and Giovanni Barrili, and theologian Dionigi di Borgo San Sepolcro.

Boccaccio returned to Florence in early , avoiding the plague of in that city, but also missing the visit of Petrarch to Naples in He had left Naples due to tensions between the Angevin king and Florence. His father had returned to Florence in , where he had gone bankrupt.