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====The life of Giovanni Boccaccio====

The future writer was born in a village outside of the city of Florence and he was the son of Boccaccio de Chellino, a wealthy merchant and banker, who was employed by the famous Bardi Bank. It appears that Boccaccio was born outside of marriage and he was raised by his father and legitimized. The young boy received an excellent education and was tutored in Latin and his father also gave him some business training. From an early age, the young Giovanni was determined to be a poet. His father moved to Naples and worked as a financial advisor to the king and Boccaccio was familiar with the Neapolitan Court. The young man was obliged to become an apprentice banker, which he hated, but he was able to meet many writers and scholars<ref>Bartlett, Kenneth R. The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance. Toronto: D.C. Heath and Company, 1992, p 42-43)</ref> It was about this time that he became interested in the mythology of the Greeks and the Romans.

In the 1350s he met Petrarch and the two men became friends’ and each influenced the works of the other. In the 1350s Boccaccio wrote the biography of Dante and went on to write a collection of biographies On Famous Women and On Famous Men, which was very popular. He also wrote a work on classical mythology and this is considered to be one of the first studies of myth ever produced. In 1362 during a religious crisis, he met a monk who told him to abandon literature and to burn his extensive library, for the sake of his soul.<ref>McWilliam, p 4</ref> Thankfully, Petrarch intervened and persuaded Boccaccio to follow his vocation as a writer and scholar. His native Florence recognized his talents and he was appointed as a public lecturer on the works of the great Dante. He also because of the influence of his great friend Petrarch, became a diplomat and he was engaged on diplomatic missions throughout Europe. As he grew old he returned to his native Tuscany and lived in the village of Certaldo, until his death in 1375.

====Boccaccio and the birth of the Novel====