WRITER

Giovanni Boccaccio

1313 - 1375

Photo of Giovanni Boccaccio

Icon of person Giovanni Boccaccio

Giovanni Boccaccio (UK: bə-KATCH-ee-oh, US: boh-KAH-ch(ee)oh, bə-; Italian: [dʒoˈvanni bokˈkattʃo]; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was sometimes simply known as "the Certaldese" and one of the most important figures in the European literary panorama of the fourteenth century. Some scholars (including Vittore Branca) define him as the greatest European prose writer of his time, a versatile writer who amalgamated different literary trends and genres, making them converge in original works, thanks to a creative activity exercised under the banner of experimentalism. His most notable works are The Decameron, a collection of short stories, and On Famous Women. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Giovanni Boccaccio is the 32nd most popular writer (down from 28th in 2019), the 42nd most popular biography from Italy (down from 27th in 2019) and the 5th most popular Italian Writer.

Giovanni Boccaccio is most famous for his collection of short stories, The Decameron.

Memorability Metrics

Loading...

Page views of Giovanni Boccaccio by language

Loading...

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Giovanni Boccaccio ranks 32 out of 7,302Before him are Rumi, Petrarch, Honoré de Balzac, Aesop, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and Gabriel García Márquez. After him are Agatha Christie, H. G. Wells, Khalil Gibran, Anne Frank, George Orwell, and Charles Dickens.

Most Popular Writers in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1313, Giovanni Boccaccio ranks 1After him are Cola di Rienzo, Bartolus de Saxoferrato, Emperor Kōgon, Ibn al-Khatib, Maria of Portugal, Queen of Castile, Isabella of Valois, Duchess of Bourbon, and Constantine III, King of Armenia. Among people deceased in 1375, Giovanni Boccaccio ranks 1After him are Valdemar IV of Denmark, Philip, Duke of Orléans, Ibn al-Shatir, John Henry, Margrave of Moravia, Stephen II, Duke of Bavaria, Eleanor of Sicily, Liu Bowen, James IV of Majorca, Shuttarna II, Charles III, Count of Alençon, and Margaret Drummond, Queen of Scotland.

Others Born in 1313

Go to all Rankings

Others Deceased in 1375

Go to all Rankings

In Italy

Among people born in Italy, Giovanni Boccaccio ranks 42 out of 5,161Before him are Petrarch (1304), Amerigo Vespucci (1454), Geta (189), Caligula (12), Pope Pius X (1835), and Pope Clement I (40). After him are Pope Benedict XV (1854), Giacomo Puccini (1858), Alessandro Volta (1745), Brutus the Younger (-85), Ötzi (-3345), and Pope Urban VII (1521).

Among WRITERS In Italy

Among writers born in Italy, Giovanni Boccaccio ranks 5Before him are Dante Alighieri (1265), Virgil (-70), Ovid (-43), and Petrarch (1304). After him are Horace (-65), Umberto Eco (1932), Giacomo Casanova (1725), Giorgio Vasari (1511), Cato the Elder (-243), Carlo Collodi (1826), and Plautus (-254).