A comprehensive biography of the celebrated author of the Decameron, a medieval masterpiece written in early Italian.
                                              
Boccaccio (1313–75) stands with Dante and Petrarch as one of the “Three Crowns” of Italian letters, a trio of writers who shaped the history of international humanism, literature, and poetry. In this book, Dante’s award-winning biographer, Marco Santagata, takes up the moving life and legacy of Boccaccio—whose unflinching story of a pandemic-era community (the Decameron) created new possibilities for vernacular Italian prose writing.

This first major biography sheds new light on Boccaccio’s life—his family, friends, and foes, aspirations, fears, and frustrations. Santagata shows how transformations in Italian culture affected Boccaccio throughout his life. He charts the influences that shaped Boccaccio’s understanding of literature: what kinds of stories it could tell and what kinds of characters it could depict; and, perhaps most importantly, what role art could play in a changing world. This book promises to be the definitive biography of Boccaccio for many years to come.