Boccaccio, The Decameron (c. 1350)—A collection of 100 stories told by a fictional group of wealthy Florentines while awaiting the recession of the Black Death away from their homes, this pioneering work of fiction in the Renaissance inspired many later writers.

Michelangelo Buonarroti, Poems (c. 1550)—These beautiful lyrics show the influence of Petrarch as it was developed in the later Renaissance among Italian writers.

Baldassare Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier (1528)—This work is a dialogue between members of the cultivated court of Urbino about the qualities of a perfect courtier. The book was translated into a number of European languages and became read as an advice manual for courtiers in the later Renaissance. It also spawned a host of imitators who wrote similar courtesy books.

Niccolò Machiavelli, A History of Florence (1532)—Published after his death, this work ranks among the greatest literary...