Giovanni Boccaccio

Michael Papio

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.6.1: Italian Writing and Culture, 453-present.
Vol. editors: Carla Bregman (Independent Scholar - North America), Jo Ann Cavallo (Columbia University)

Dates

Born 1313
Died 1375
Activity c. 1335-1375

Places

Born in Italy
Active in Italy

Genres and Modes

Romance

Activities

Primary

Story-writer

Other

Biographer
Clergyman
Essayist
Humanist
Letter-writer/ Diarist
Literary Critic/ Historian
Philologist
Poet
Scholar

Resources

Boccaccio's Works

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Giovanni Boccaccio is best known for being the author of the

Decameron

, an enormously influential collection of short stories written in Florence ca. 1348-52. He was born in Certaldo (or perhaps Florence) to a banker usually called Boccaccino di Chelino who was employed by the Bardi family. Although we cannot be absolutely certain regarding the year of his birth, Petrarch's mention of being nine years older (

Seniles

8.1) would allow us to use 1313 as a reliable hypothesis. In his

Amorosa visione

(14.42-46), Boccaccio tells us that he was legitimized by his father probably in 1319 or 1320. Of his mother, however, we know next to nothing. The myth of a noble Parisian mother was begun by Boccaccio himself (

Filocolo

5.9 and

Comedia delle ninfe fiorentine

[

Comedy of the Florentine Nymphs

] 23)…

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2659 words

Citation: Papio, Michael. "Giovanni Boccaccio". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 January 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=460, accessed 23 November 2024.]