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Giovanni Villani

Type Figure Region Italy Time c. 1280–1348 Also known as Giovanni Villani、Giovanni di Villani

Giovanni Villani (c. 1276/1280–1348) was a 14th-century Florentine merchant, banker, and chronicler whose Nuova Cronica systematically recorded the p…

Timeline

  1. c. 1300–1321Florence · FlorenceBorn into a Florentine merchant family, he took part in commercial activities including the Peruzzi bank, and served twice as Gonfaloniere di Giustizia, in 1314 and 1321, becoming deeply involved in city politics.
  2. 1300–1340Florence · FlorenceFrom 1300 he wrote the Nuova Cronica, recording Italian politics, economy, population, and disasters with Florence at the center, revising it continuously through the 1340s and describing society on the eve of the Black Death.
  3. 1341–1348Florence · FlorenceIn 1348 the Black Death struck Florence; after recording the scale of the epidemic in his chronicle, Villani himself fell ill and died, and the work was continued by his brother Matteo Villani and others.

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