• Also Known by the Nickname:
• Lifetime: 1313 - 1375
• Born: He was born in 1313 in Paris but moved to Florence as a young child
• Family connections : Giovanni Boccaccio was the illegitimate son of a merchant from Certaldo called Boccaccino di Chellino
• Childhood, early life and education: Giovanni Boccaccio was initially educated at Certaldo and Naples by his father , who wanted him to take up commerce and law. Giovanni Boccaccio studied business but abandoned it to pursue his literary career. He then became a student of Giovanni da Strada, who was an esteemed teacher of grammar in Florence
• Career and Timeline: 
  • 1323: Giovanni Boccaccio studied business but abandoned it eventually to pursue his literary interests
  • 1324: He became a student of Giovanni da Strada, who was an esteemed teacher of grammar in Florence
  • 1336: Giovanni Boccaccio met Maria d'Aquino, the illegitimate daughter of King Robert in Naples
    • Maria d'Aquino inspired  Giovanni Boccaccio in prose and verse as Fiammetta
    • Although Maria d'Aquino was married she entered an affair with the besotted Giovanni Boccaccio
  • 1337: Giovanni Boccaccio wrote the Filocolo, a courtly romance which was written in prose
  • 1341: Boccaccio was recalled to Florence by his ageing father
  • 1341: Giovanni Boccaccio wrote Il Teseida
  • 1342: Giovanni Boccaccio wrote Comedy of the Florentine Nymphs
  • 1343: Boccaccio wrote The Amorous Vision
  • 1344: Boccaccio obtained (his fathers permission to return to Naples
  • 1344: Giovanni Boccaccio wrote La Fiammetta
  • 1348: The Black Death ravaged Naples and Florence during which time Maria d'Aquino died
  • 1350: Boccaccio returned to Florence when his father died
  • 1350 Boccaccio met Francesco Petrarch who was an important influence on Boccaccio in respect of the rebirth period of the Renaissance and the concept of Humanism
  • 1355: Giovanni Boccaccio and Pietro Aretino wrote the Life of Dante
  • 1360: Boccaccio wrote the Fates of Illustrious Men in Latin
  • 1361: Boccaccio wrote Concerning Famous Women in Latin
  • 1371: Giovanni Boccaccio conducted a series of lectures on the Divine Comedy by Dante
  • 1373: Giovanni Boccaccio began the lectures in Florence which became his famous Commento on the Inferno
  • 1375: Death of Giovanni Boccaccio
• Died: Giovanni Boccaccio died at Certaldo on December 21, 1375
• Accomplishments and Achievements or why Giovanni Boccaccio was famous: Italian writer, humanist and one of the founders of the Renaissance. Famous for writing the Decameron

Giovanni Boccaccio
The story and biography of Giovanni Boccaccio which contains interesting information, facts & the history about the life of this Medieval person of historical importance.

Boccaccio and the Decameron
The most famous work by Giovanni Boccaccio was the Decameron, in which ten individuals fleeing from the plague into the countryside tell stories. The Decameron is believed to have influenced Geoffrey Chaucer and his famous book of the Canterbury Tales.