Giovanni Boccaccio: Dante And Petrarch

Giovanni Boccaccio was a Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance Humanist. He wrote numerous notable work, and he was an important figure in the Italian literary traditions, promoting both Dante and Petrarch. Dante; was an important Italian poet, and Petrarch; was a devout classical scholar who was considered “The Father of Humanism”. Giovanni Boccaccio was born in Florence. His father worked for the Compagnia dei Bardi in 1320. His father married a women named Margherita dei Mardoli. Giovanni’s father ended up being appointed head of the bank. Because of this they had to move to Naples. Giovanni was apprentice of the bank, but didn’t like the banking profession. He began studying cannon law for the next six years. It seemed that Boccaccio liked law no more than banking. However, his studies allowed him to have the opportunities to study various things, and make great connections with many other scholars. When Boccaccio was in Naples, that’s when he really started writing poetry. Here in Naples he wrote many poems like “Il Filostrato” , which told a story of Troilus and

Through an exchange of knowledge, ideas, and materials, the two of them laid the foundations for humanism. He was a founding father of humanism and a Renaissance man. He attempted to rediscover and reinterpret ancient texts, but also improve literature in modern languages by setting standards for it. Without Giovanni Boccaccio the literary culmination of the Italian Renaissance would be historically incomprehensible; meaning not able to be understood. Unfortunately Giovanni Boccaccio’s final years were troubled by illnesses, some relating to obesity and what often is described as dropsy, severe edema that would be described today as congestive heart failure. He died at the age of sixty-two in Certaldo on December 21, in 1375, where he was