Person

Giovanni Boccaccio

1313–1375 · 14th century · Also known as Boccaccio

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375) was an Italian writer and humanist, born in or near Florence, who spent his youth in Naples in the circle of the court of King Robert of Anjou. His Decameron, a collection of a hundred tales told by young Florentines escaping the Black Death of 1348, is a masterpiece of Italian prose. A friend of Petrarch, he also wrote a life of Dante and lectured publicly on the Divine Comedy.

Giovanni Boccaccio
Image: Andrea del Castagno · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 2 profiles

Republic of FlorenceImpactKingdom of NaplesImpact

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Giovanni Boccaccio. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/giovanni-boccaccio
MLA
“Giovanni Boccaccio.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/giovanni-boccaccio. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Giovanni Boccaccio.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/giovanni-boccaccio.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Giovanni Boccaccio’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/giovanni-boccaccio (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻