Giovanni Boccaccio

Giovanni Boccaccio (June 16, 1313 December 21, 1375) was an Italian author and poet, a friend and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist in his own right and author of a number of notable works including On Famous Women, the Decameron and his poems in the vernacular. Boccaccio's characters are notable for their era in that they are realistic, spirited and clever individuals who are grounded in reality (in contradiction to the characters of his contemporaries, who were more concerned with the Medieval virtues of Chivalry, Piety and Humility).