Francesco Petrarca

Il Canzoniere, also known as the Rime Sparse, but originally titled Rerum vulgarium fragmenta, is a collection of poems by the Italian humanist, poet, and writer Francesco Petrarca. Though the majority of Petrarch's output was in Latin, the Canzoniere was written in the vernacular, a language of trade, despite …

Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374), one of the greatest of Italian poets, was also the leading spirit in the Renaissance movement to revive ancient Roman language and literature. Just as Petrarch's Latin epic Africa imitated Virgil and his compendium On Illustrious Men was inspired by Livy, so Petrarch's four Invectives …