Leonardo Bruni’s Life of Dante, extracts from Giovanni Villani’s Florentine Chronicles and Filippo Villani’s Life of Dante, as well as documents preserved in a manuscript of Boccaccio are combined in this impressive volume, and together they provide a wealth of insight and information into Dante’s unique character and life. They address the author’s susceptibility to the torments of passionate love, his involvement in politics, his scholastic enthusiasms, military experience, and the stories behind the greatest heights of his poetic achievements. Not only are these accounts invaluable for their subject matter, they are also seminal examples of early biographical writing. Also included in this expansive collection is a biography of Boccaccio himself.