Giovanni Boccaccio

1313–1375 · Italian (Certaldo/Florence/Naples) · Late Medieval Italy

Known for: Author of The Decameron, 100 tales told during the Black Death—foundational to European prose fiction

Giovanni Boccaccio was the illegitimate son of a Florentine banker who was sent to Naples to study banking but fell in love with literature instead—and with a noblewoman he called 'Fiammetta.' He was worldly, earthy, and psychologically perceptive. His Decameron—100 stories told by young people sheltering from the Black Death—ranges from bawdy farce to devastating tragedy.

The Decameron's frank sexuality scandalized contemporaries and delighted everyone else. Boccaccio was a close friend and literary disciple of Petrarch. In later life, he became religious and attempted to burn the Decameron (Petrarch talked him out of it). He also wrote the first biography of Dante.

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