(1313-1375) Italian writer
Boccaccio entered world culture mainly as the author of the famous Decameron. Books, like people, have their own reputations. The Decameron also has a reputation. Ask any person who is not very deeply familiar with the history of culture about it, and he will most likely say that this is a book about various love affairs, mostly of monks and rogues.
We can say that humanity has retained in its memory a very important aspect of the famous book. But only one side. She had others too. For example, the direct expression and defense of the high humanistic ideal, the defense of human virtues, nobility and generosity, courage and patience. In general, this book is diverse and shows human relationships from different sides. By analogy with Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” Italians have long called “The Decameron” a “human comedy.”
Boccaccio was a younger contemporary of Petrarch. Together with him, he became the great founder of the humanistic culture of the European Renaissance. However, the great Italian came to the humanism of the Renaissance in his own way.
Giovanni Boccaccio born in the second half of 1313 in Certaldo, a small town near Florence. Some sources indicate that he was born in Paris. But the story of his birth in Paris is the same legend as the version about the royal origin of his beloved Fiammetta. Giovanni was the son of the merchant Boccaccio di Kellino, associated with the richest banking houses of Bardi and Peruzzi.
Around 1330, Boccaccio settled in Naples, where, at the insistence of his father, he studied first commerce and then canon law. He did not turn out to be either a merchant or a lawyer. He was only interested in poetry. It was in Naples, surrounded by King Robert of Anjou, that Boccaccio became a poet and humanist. He voraciously read Virgil, Ovid, Titus Livy and Apuleius, studied less philology, but knew and felt very well the poetry of Dante, French chivalric novels and folk epics - cantari.
The main thing, however, was not the books. Boccaccio came to the humanistic discovery of the world and man not so much as a result of a new reading of the classics, but under the influence of direct perception of reality itself. For the young Florentine, Naples became a window into the bright and adventurous world of the Mediterranean - into the world of Homer, Arabs, sea robbers and merchant seafarers, who also often traded in corsairship. Contact with this world forced the future writer to think anew about the role that intelligence, generosity, courage, fate, chance play in a person’s life, and also instilled in him a love of romance, which was one of the most attractive aspects of his future works. Naples knocked Boccaccio out of the beaten rut of the class structure and opened his eyes to the real life of ordinary Italians.
At the court of King Robert, he met Maria D'Aquino, whom he glorified under the name of Fiammetta (“Spark”) in many works. A long period of Boccaccio’s work took place in Naples. Here, in addition to numerous poems glorifying Fiammetta, and the poem “The Hunt of Diana” , written under the influence of Dante's "New Life", he created a novel in prose and two large poems - "Philostrato" and "Theseide", associated with Italian adaptations of ancient stories and French chivalric romances. In the 14th-15th centuries, these works were extremely popular and played an important role in the formation of new Italian literature.
In 1340 Boccaccio had to return to Florence at the insistence of his ruined father. However, trading operations still did not interest him. He continued to study poetry and gradually became involved in the social and political life of his native city. Boccaccio was the first humanist in the service of the Florentine Republic. In the middle of the 14th century, he became one of its most authoritative diplomats. It was the Florentine people - the “popolos” - with their vital, social, and aesthetic ideals that helped Boccaccio to fully comprehend life. His daily life, interests and habits are reflected in the story “Fiammetta”, written in 1343.
The pinnacle of the writer's creativity - "The Decameron" - was written in 1350-1353. It is the earliest of the great books of modern literature. It appeared before Gargantua and Pantagruel, before Don Quixote. It was written at the dawn of European civilization. And at the same time, “The Decameron” is still an absolutely living book.
The fact that this work appeared so early is due to the peculiarities of Italian history. The emergence of great literature is ultimately always a response to great historical events that mark the rise of a nation, an important step in its historical development. Thus, the elimination of feudal fragmentation, the strengthening of central power and the transformation of England into the mistress of the seas gave birth to Shakespeare and his galaxy.
The same thing happened in Italy, which in the 13th-14th centuries produced Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio. Two centuries before this literary era, Italian cities defeated the feudal lords and became independent city-communes, whose life was free and democratic.
Boccaccio's critics tried to prove that the Decameron undermines the foundations of religion and morality. Objecting to hypocritical critics, the author said that if desired, obscenity can be found even in the Bible. He specifically stipulated that his short stories were not intended for burghers and their wives mired in hypocrisy - for those “who need to read the Lord’s Prayer or bake a pie or cake for their confessor.”
As plot material, Boccaccio equally used anecdotes, which made up a significant part of urban folklore, and religious and moral “examples” with which illustrious church ministers supplied sermons, as well as French fabliau and oriental tales, Apuleius’ “Metamorphoses” and oral stories of contemporary Florentines . All these narratives are framed as the stories of seven girls and three boys who decided to leave the plague-stricken city and enjoy communication with each other in one of the nearby estates.
The main thing in “The Decameron” was new ideas. This is not a collection of scattered stories, but an integral, internally complete work. Florence in it is not a conventional place of action. This is the real Florence of the 14th century, with its social structure, with its people, among whom there are famous cultural masters, with its memorable events. These included the terrible plague epidemic that struck “the best city in all Italy” in 1348 and claimed a huge number of lives. Boccaccio begins his book with a detailed description of the plague.
With remarkable frankness, he talks about the affairs of the Catholic clergy and, especially willingly, about the monastic brethren. He had predecessors in medieval short stories, but he surpassed them with the strength and brilliance of his bold talent. The author was not interested in dogmatic questions. He was attracted only by life in its diversity. And, of course, Boccaccio would not have been Boccaccio if he had not given a worthy place to earthly human love in his most significant work. Love in “The Decameron” is not only a riot of the flesh, it is a great feeling that can transform a person and raise him to a significant height. Many short stories of The Decameron tell about the strength and perseverance of love. For Boccaccio's heroes, without strong love there is no true life on earth. Moreover, among the reasons leading to the tragic outcome, class and property inequality occupies a special place.
From the pages of the Decameron, a living Italy, multifaceted and multicolored, looked at the reader. Of all the Italian cities, Boccaccio especially readily describes Florence and Naples. They are well known to him, a lot in his life is connected with them. While enjoying conversation and poetry, the Decameron's narrators continue to live a coherent social life. Laughter, joyful love of life and freedom that reign in the society they created arose not because the authority of both divine and human laws fell in plague-stricken Florence, but, on the contrary, because, despite the plague, the “republic of poets” remains faithful to the norms of universal humanity. morality. The society of storytellers of the Decameron is connected both with the very real Boccaccio and with modern Florence.
In "The Decameron" the writer was ahead of his age. The book was a huge success and was almost immediately translated into many languages. They laughed at her in Florence, London and Paris. In Italy she was cursed from church pulpits, which only increased her popularity. The short story collection genre after Boccaccio became incredibly popular throughout European literature, but especially in Italy.
As old age approached, the impressionable and unbalanced writer, experiencing fear of death, began to attach greater importance to faith and church rituals. However, the work of the late Boccaccio does not give grounds to say that his worldview has seriously changed. This is also evidenced by his commonality with another great humanist - Francesco Petrarch, friendship with whom reaches its peak in these years.
The works written by Boccaccio in Latin are less original and interesting than his early poetry and the Decameron. Of all Boccaccio's Latin works, the most important for the further development of Renaissance literature throughout Europe was his extensive treatise on ancient mythology - “Genealogy of the Pagan Gods” (1350-1363). His treatises “On Famous Women” and “On the Misfortunes of Famous People” also aroused interest.
In the last period of his work, Boccaccio maintained an interest in the popular language and folk culture, even in its most direct folklore manifestations. In recent years, the writer’s dedication and his ability to anticipate the future direction of thought was manifested in his works on Dante, which laid the foundation for a new literary criticism.
Boccaccio always appreciated Dante's genius. He became the author of the first biography of the great poet, wrote a commentary on 17 songs of the Divine Comedy. About a year before his death, in October 1373, the writer received an assignment from the Florentine Commune to give public lectures on Dante's immortal poem. Boccaccio read them in the church of San Stefano until January of the following year, when illness forced him to abandon it.
Boccaccio died in Certaldo on December 21, 1375. On the writer’s tombstone it is written: “His occupation was good poetry.” The humanism of Giovanni Boccaccio’s work is indestructible, like life itself. Interest in the Decameron and other works of the great Italian writer existed yesterday, exists today and will exist tomorrow.
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A statue of Boccaccio takes pride of place at Florence's Uffizi Palace, and his work has become a source of inspiration for many famous writers, including William Shakespeare.
The Long Path to Literature
Giovanni Boccaccio was born 701 years ago in Paris: his mother was French. She gave birth to a boy from the merchant Boccaccino da Cellino.
A respectable, wealthy Florentine took his son in when he was just a baby. And already at the age of ten, the merchant, wanting to teach his son the basics of a commercial craft, sent Giovanni to a merchant he knew. The boy desperately resisted and did not want to learn the basics of commerce (he began writing poetry early and saw his calling in this). So the teacher, who fought with him for more than five years, sent the pet back to his father's house.
But the strict father was not so easily confused. For almost a dozen years he kept his son in Naples, where he gnawed at the granite of the science he hated. During this period, he wrote the poem “Filostrato” and the novel “Filokolo” (based on medieval works). Then daddy relented and allowed the heir to move on to studying canon law.
However, the future humanist had to wait a little longer before devoting himself to his favorite work. This happened only at the age of 35, when his father passed away.
Petrarch's influence
Among Boccaccio's acquaintances there were many noble persons and scientists. He led a rather wild life, indulged in love pleasures and drew inspiration from them. He had a special favor for a certain Maria; later he brought out this image dear to him in the story “Fiametta”.
When Giovanni met Francesco Petrarch in Rome in 1341, he decided to put an end to his protracted youthful amusements and became more serious. The talented friend had a very good influence on his younger comrade. It was then that the “Fiesolan Nymphs” were born (the poet drew motifs from Ovid’s “Metamorphoses”).
After 8 years, Boccaccio settled in Florence. It was he who was delegated to inform Petrarch about the end of his exile (the poet was invited to head the department at the University of Florence).
Boccaccio was engaged in creativity, but at the same time he carried out various orders from the powers that be, acted as a diplomat and ambassador in resolving conflicts.
The best works of Giovanni Boccaccio
Contributions to science and literature
On the family estate located in Certaldo, the poet and scientist spent a lot of time studying ancient treatises and rewriting priceless manuscripts. He made a lot of efforts to restore the glory of the library of the monastery of Monte Cassino (notes written by the hands of Homer and Plato were kept there), and was one of the founders of the Greek language department in Florence.
He owns a fundamental (15 volumes) work written in Latin, “Genealogy of the Pagan Gods” and the collection “On Famous Women” (106 biographies of great representatives of the fair sex, starting from the ancestor Eve, ending with Joanna, then ruling in Naples, with whom the writer was I personally know you).
The great Italian is known to his descendants, first of all, for the sparkling “Decameron”. The plot is based on the stories of ten “plague refugees” who, having settled in the countryside, entertained each other with funny and instructive stories. The narrator characters (three young men and seven ladies) are very eloquent: the collection consists of 100 episodes - from openly erotic to tragic. The book was written in 1352-1354.
For only two years, Boccaccio managed to head the department dedicated to Dante’s poem at the University of Florence. Petrarch died in 1974; his best friend survived him by less than a year and a half. The life-loving poet and scientist died on December 21, 1375.
BOCCACCIO, GIOVANNI(Boccaccio, Giovanni) (1313–1375), Italian prose writer, poet, humanist. The illegitimate son of the merchant Boccaccio del fu Kellino, better known as Boccaccino from Certaldo, a town southwest of Florence, Boccaccio was born in 1313, presumably in Paris; his mother, Jeanne, was French.
At the time of the birth of his son, Boccaccino was working for the Florentine banking house of Bardi. In 1316 or a little later, his employers recalled him to Florence. He took his son with him, and the future writer spent his early years in the beneficial atmosphere of the city, where by that time commerce and the arts flourished. Under the guidance of Giovanni da Strada, father of the poet Zanobi, he studied "grammar" (Latin). Later, his father decided to introduce him to “arithmetic” - the art of keeping accounts.
In 1327, the House of Bardi sent Boccaccino to Naples as manager of the Neapolitan branch of the bank. In Naples, Giovanni, already dreaming of fame as a poet, was apprenticed to a Florentine merchant. In this position, he said, he wasted six years. Another six years were spent studying canon law, again at the insistence of his father. Only then did Boccaccino assign Giovanni maintenance.
Life in Naples greatly developed Boccaccio. The son of an influential banker who repeatedly lent money to King Robert of Anjou (1309–1343), he had access to the court of the enlightened monarch, where he met soldiers, sailors, wealthy merchants and philosophers. At the same time, Boccaccio experienced several love interests, until on March 30, 1336, in the small church of San Lorenzo, he met a woman, Maria d'Aquino, who went down in literary history under the name of Fiammetta. Almost all of Boccaccio's early books were written for her or about her. At first, the novel developed in the best traditions of courtly love, but soon Maria became Giovanni's mistress. She did not remain faithful to him for long. Stung by the betrayal, Boccaccio wrote a sonnet - one of the most evil denunciations in Italian literature.
In 1339 the Bardi house was destroyed. Boccaccino lost his job, Giovanni lost his salary. For some time he tried to live on the meager income from a small estate near Piedigrotta, given to him by his father. After the death of his stepmother and half-brother, on January 11, 1341, he returned to Florence. In life's troubles, Boccaccio was supported only by the friendship of Petrarch, whom he met in 1350, when he arrived in Florence, and his tender love for his illegitimate daughter Violanta, whose death he mourned in Latin verse.
Florence appointed Boccaccio as its treasurer, instructed him to purchase the city of Prato from Naples, and sent him at least seven times on important diplomatic missions, three of them to various popes. On duty, he traveled all over Italy, visited Avignon and, probably, Tyrol. The last years of Boccaccio's life were bleak. Being a middle-aged man, he fell in love with a widow, who made him a laughing stock. In response, Boccaccio wrote a short book Crow (Il Corbaccio, 1355) is a masterpiece of misogyny, even for an era when it was par for the course. A few years later, the monk Joachim Chany visited him and, reproaching Boccaccio for the “sinful” tone of his writings, urged him to burn all his books. Only Petrarch's letter kept the writer from taking this step. Boccaccio then took a trip to Naples, but neither the promised work nor a warm welcome awaited him there. Then he went to his father’s homeland, Certaldo.
The last time Boccaccio appeared in public was in 1373, when he was commissioned to give a course of lectures on Dante in Florence. But his strength left him, and he read only a small part of the planned course. Boccaccio died in Certaldo on December 31, 1375.
Boccaccio's creative heritage is extensive and varied. In addition to the novel in short stories Decameron (Decameron, 1348–1351), he wrote four large poems, a novel and a story, an allegory in the spirit of Dante Ameto (L"Ameto, 1342), satire Crow, biographical book The Life of Dante Alighieri (Vita di Dante, 1360–1363) and commentaries on 17 of his songs Divine Comedy, four treatises in Latin, many poems, letters and Latin eclogues.
Some of Boccaccio's works had a significant influence on writers of subsequent generations. Yes, a poem Filostrato (Filostrato, 1338) inspired Chaucer to create Troilus and Chryseids, about 2700 lines of which are almost literal translations from Boccaccio. Another great poem by Boccaccio, Theseides (Teseida, 1339), written in octaves, gave the same Chaucer a plot for the story of a knight in Canterbury Tales. In 1344–1346 Boccaccio wrote a poem Fiesolan nymphs (Ninfale Fiesolano), an exquisite idyll, unsurpassed even during the heyday of Renaissance literature.
Novels Philocolo (Filocolo, 1336) and Elegy of the Madonna Fiammetta (L"Elegia di Madonna Fiammetta, 1343), despite some verbosity, give vivid and truthful pictures of the life of Naples and an idea of the role of Boccaccio in it. The first is a retelling of an old French legend Flour and Blancheflor. The second is deeply autobiographical and is considered the first psychological novel. Of Boccaccio's scientific works, only The Life of Dante Alighieri and attached to it Commentary on the Divine Comedy (Commento alla Commedia) retain scientific value. They are based on materials provided by Dante's nephew Andrea Pozzi, his close friends Dino Perini and Piero Giardino, his daughter Antonia (the monastic sister of Beatrice), and possibly his sons Pietro and Jacopo. The cult of Dante began with Boccaccio. Latin treatises of Boccaccio About the misadventures of famous husbands (De casibus virorum illustribus), About famous women (De claris mulieribus), ABOUT genealogy of the gods (De genealogia deorum gentilium) And About mountains, forests, sources... (De montibus, silvis, fontibus, lacubus, etc.), losing a lot due to the dogmatic approach traditional for the Middle Ages, are interesting for their biographical references and have historical significance as examples of pre-humanistic literature.
Notable events that served as the impetus for the creation Decameron. In 1348, an epidemic of bubonic plague raged in Europe, killing 25 million people. The disease did not spare Italy, including Florence. The plague also affected morals. Some saw in it the punishing hand of the Lord, and this became the reason for a powerful surge in religiosity. Others - they were the majority - made "carpe diem" - "seize the moment" - their life principle. Boccaccio was one of them.
Long before that, he had been collecting funny and interesting parables, stories and anecdotes. The sources were very different: oriental tales and French fabliaux, Roman acts (Gesta Romanorum) and early collections of short stories, such as Novellino (Cento Novelle Antiche) And Adventures of a Sicilian (L"Avventuroso Ciciliano), palace and street gossip and, finally, real events of that time. Wise from life experience and the disasters he had experienced, in the prime of his creative powers, Boccaccio was ready to begin processing them. Having made the narrators three young men (each of them, perhaps, representing some aspect of the author’s personality) and seven young women (probably his lovers), who, fleeing the plague, leave Florence, Boccaccio brought all the short stories into a single, integral work.
Despite the obvious influence of Ciceronian mannerism, the language Decameron lively, colourful, rich, refined and melodic. Boccaccio is gallant, balanced, more sophisticated, sometimes cynical, but invariably humane. He left us a picture of a brilliant and stormy era - the autumn of the Middle Ages. From Decameron drew images and ideas from Chaucer, W. Shakespeare, Moliere, Madame de Sevigne, J. Swift, J. Lafontaine, I. V. Goethe, D. Keats, J. G. Byron and G. W. Longfellow.
BOCCACCIO (Boccaccio) Giovanni (1313-1375), Italian writer, humanist of the Early Renaissance. Poems based on ancient mythology, the psychological story "Fiammetta" (1343, published in 1472), pastorals, sonnets. In the main work "The Decameron" (1350-53, published in 1470) - a book of realistic short stories, imbued with humanistic ideas, the spirit of freethinking and anticlericalism, rejection of ascetic morality, cheerful humor - a multi-colored panorama of the morals of Italian society. The poem "The Raven" (1354-55, published in 1487), the book "The Life of Dante Alighieri" (c. 1360, published in 1477).
BOCCACCIO (Вocaccio) Giovanni (1313, Paris - December 21, 1375, Certaldo, Tuscany, Italy), Italian poet, writer, expert on classical antiquity.
He was born in Paris, but throughout his conscious and creative life he was associated with such cultural centers of the Italian Renaissance as Naples and Florence. He was the illegitimate son of a Frenchwoman of noble birth and a wealthy Florentine merchant, at whose insistence he began to study law, banking and commerce at a very early age in the company of the Bardi, a famous merchant family.
From 1330 he was with his father in Naples, who was a supplier to the court of the Neapolitan king Robert of Anjou. It was this sovereign, the patron of the arts, who noticed the gift of young Boccaccio, who, by his own admission, began to compose poetry as soon as he learned the letters. Boccaccio's creative vocation, his interest in the fine arts and classical antiquities were supported and developed in communication with a circle of artists, poets and thinkers close to the court of Robert of Anjou. At different times, Giotto, Cino da Pistoia, and Barlaam of Calabria were at this brilliant court; the royal librarian who gave lessons to the young Boccaccio was Paolo Perugino. The love for Maria d'Aquino, the king's natural daughter, who he met in Naples, inspired many of Boccaccio's love lyrics.
It was during his stay in Naples at the grave of Virgil that Boccaccio vowed to devote his entire life to the service of the fine arts and poetry. Here, in his young years, he created several popular works: “The Hunt of Diana” - a poetic work in terza (about 1336), in which noble Neapolitan ladies are represented as heroines of ancient myths - companions of the goddess Diana, “Philostrato” (1338) - a poem in octaves on themes of the Trojan cycle, "Theseid" (1339). All these works are written in the folk Italian language - the so-called "Volgar" and are often alterations of the plots of southern French medieval works.
In 1340, Boccaccio, at the insistence of his father, returned to Florence. With the exception of a short period in 1351, when he was in straitened circumstances after the death of his father, he avoided holding permanent positions in the communal hierarchy or in the service of influential persons. At the same time, during his life, Boccaccio willingly carried out honorary diplomatic missions on behalf of the Florentine Republic, and was a member of embassies sent to Romagna (1351), Ravenna and Rome (1367), Naples (1351), Avignon (1354 and 1365), Venice ( 1367 and 1368.). It is obvious that Boccaccio enjoyed respect and authority among his fellow citizens.
During his life in Florence, he created the prose works that made him famous: “Fiametta” (1343), “Decameron” (1348-1353), as well as the poetic cycle “The Fiesolan Nymphs” (1345). Boccaccio's literary masterpiece "The Decameron" became a model of perfection of language and style for Italian authors, a classic of world literature. The Decameron presents one hundred stories told on behalf of noble Florentine ladies and young men; The narrative takes place against the backdrop of a plague epidemic (the “Black Death”), from which noble society is hiding in a country estate, and is full of subtle psychologism and unexpected collisions.
From the 1340s Boccaccio worked on the “Genealogy of the Pagan Gods” (a work in 15 books devoted to the analysis of ancient mythology, including the geography of myths). In 1350 he met Petrarch, who became his best friend. A circle of humanists formed around Boccaccio, among whom Coluccio Salutati and Filippo Villani later became famous. In addition, Boccaccio obtained from the city fathers the establishment of a department of the Greek language, which was occupied by a Greek from Calabria, Leontius Pilate (1359). Boccaccio not only received a teacher in his own home and supported him at his own expense, but also acquired valuable Greek manuscripts for teaching purposes and, apparently, carried out literary processing of Leontius’s translations from ancient Greek. Although Leontius Pilate was not the best and most educated commentator on the Iliad and Odyssey, he was still able to prepare the first Latin translation of Homer's poems for the West.
Boccaccio also did everything possible to ensure that the Florentine authorities provided Petrarch with the opportunity to live comfortably and create in Florence, but he declined the offered honor. Friendly communication and correspondence between the two great humanists continued for many years, in particular in the early 1360s. - in a period of severe upheavals and moral quests - Boccaccio himself enjoys Petrarch's hospitality: he moves to Venice in 1363, where he settled.
In the last period of his life, along with the continuation of work on the “Genealogy of the Pagan Gods” (up to 1371), Boccaccio’s main work was the glorification of personality and creativity - the great forerunner of humanism. Boccaccio writes “Commentaries on the Divine Comedy” (circa 1362), which later became traditional for humanists, “Eulogy of Dante” (circa 1360), as well as, before his death, a series of public lectures about him, read in the Church of St. Stephen in Florence. These works were the only works written by Boccaccio in the Volgar during the mature period of his life. Boccaccio now prefers to write works in Latin and in more serious genres than before. In 1351-1367 he wrote in Latin a “Bucolic Poem” (imitation of Virgil), treatises “On the Misfortunes of Famous People” and “On Famous Women” (more than a hundred biographies from Eve to Queen Joanna of Naples, heiress of King Robert). This last treatise, in its mood, is the complete opposite of youthful works full of the spirit of hedonism, such as “Diana’s Hunt” and others.
In the late 1350s - early 1360s, Boccaccio experienced a deep spiritual crisis, the cause of which some biographers see in love failures and disappointments, others, on the contrary, in the natural acquisition of spiritual maturity through serious religious quests. In 1362, Boccaccio even took holy orders under the influence of the monk Gioachino Ciani and not only renounced the hedonistic spirit of his previous writings, but also began to argue that even the institutions of marriage and family recognized by the church were dangerous and detrimental to cultural and moral development. Such intolerance towards women, which Boccaccio began to show in the last period of his life, caused controversy from other humanists, for example. But, apparently, it was precisely this circumstance that allowed the Florentine bishop, who knew Boccaccio well, to certify the author of the Decameron and many love poems, known for his affections and who left behind several illegitimate children, as “a man of impeccable purity of faith and morals.”
Giovanni Boccaccio - Italian poet and writer of the early Renaissance, humanist. Born in 1313, probably in June or July. He was born in Florence and became the fruit of the love of a Florentine merchant and a French woman. Perhaps it is because of his mother that some sources indicate Paris as his place of birth. Giovanni himself called himself Boccaccio da Certaldo - after the name of the area where his family came from.
Around 1330, Boccaccio moved to Naples: despite the boy’s literary talent, which was noticeable from an early age, his father saw him in the future only as a merchant, so he sent him to learn the intricacies of commerce. However, young Boccaccio showed neither ability nor interest in trading. The father eventually lost hope that his son would continue his work, and allowed him to study canon law. But Boccaccio did not become a lawyer; his only passion was poetry, to which he had the opportunity to devote himself only much later, after the death of his father in 1348.
Living in Naples, Boccaccio becomes part of the entourage of King Robert of Anjou. It was during this period that he became a poet and humanist. His friends were scientists, educated people, and influential people. Giovanni read ancient authors avidly, and the environment itself greatly contributed to the expansion of his ideas about the world. A fairly large period of his creative biography is associated with Naples. In honor of his muse, whom he called Fiametta in his poems, he wrote a large number of poems; in addition, the poems “The Hunt of Diana”, “Theseid”, “Philostrato” were created, as well as a prose novel, which were of great importance for the formation of new Italian literature.
In 1340, his father, who by that time was completely bankrupt, demanded Boccaccio's return to Florence, although he, as before, was indifferent to commerce. Gradually, the humanist began to participate in the political and social life of the city. In 1341, a friendship appeared in his life, which he carried throughout his life - with Francesco Petrarch. Thanks to this relationship, Boccaccio began to take himself and life more seriously. He enjoyed great influence among the townspeople; he was often given diplomatic assignments on behalf of the Florentine Republic. Boccaccio devoted a lot of energy to educational work, aroused interest in antiquity and science, and personally copied ancient manuscripts.
In 1350-1353 Boccaccio wrote the main work of his life, which glorified him for centuries - “The Decameron” - a hundred short stories that were ahead of their time, creating a vivid panorama of Italian life, imbued with freethinking, lively humor, and ideas of humanism. Its success was simply stunning, and in different countries, into whose languages it was immediately translated.
In 1363, Boccaccio left Florence and came to Certaldo, a small estate, where he completely immersed himself in his books and lived contentedly with little. The closer old age loomed, the more superstitious Boccaccio became, the more seriously he took faith and the church, but to say that a turning point occurred in his worldview would be a great exaggeration. This is evidenced by his work and the apogee of friendship and unity of views with Petrarch. With the works written during these years dedicated to Dante, literary criticism of a new type began to develop. He gave public lectures on the “Divine Comedy” until a serious illness knocked him down. The death of Petrarch made the strongest impression on Boccaccio; he outlived his friend by a little less than a year and a half. On December 21, 1375, the heart of the great humanist, one of the most educated people in Italy of his time, stopped.
