Giovanni Boccaccio

Giovanni Boccaccio (June 16, 1313 – December 21, 1375) was an Italian author and poet, the greatest of Petrarch's disciples, an important Renaissance humanist in his own right and author of a number of notable works including On Famous Women, the Decameron and his poems in the vernacular. Boccaccio's characters are notable for their era in that they are realistic, spirited and clever individuals who are grounded in reality (in contradiction to the characters of his contemporaries, who were more concerned with the Medieval virtues of Chivalry, Piety and Humility).

Further reading

• On Famous Women, Latin text and English translation, 2001 ISBN 0-674-00347-0
• The Decameron, ISBN 0451528662
• The Life of Dante, ISBN 1843910063
• The Elegy of Lady Fiammetta, ISBN 0226062767