The Italian chronicler Giovanni Villani (ca. 1270-1348) wrote a history of Florence from its origins to the age of Dante.

Giovanni Villani was a Florentine merchant whose wide travels gave him an interest in Florence and the world around it. He traveled in Flanders and France from 1302 to 1308, and from 1316 until his death he held numerous political offices in the city of Florence. Caught up in the economic crises of the 1340s, Villani died of the plague in 1348. His life was devoted to commerce, politics, and the Chronicle.

In 1300 Pope Boniface VIII proclaimed a Holy Year, promising spiritual benefits to all who made the pilgrimage to Rome. Giovanni now saw Rome for the first time. He wrote: "Beholding the great and ancient things which are [in the city], reading of the great deeds of the Romans, and considering that our great city of Florence, the daughter and creation...