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FRANCESCO PETRARCA (1304-1374) The poet of romance and “The Father of Humanism”
Francesco Petrarca, commonly referred to as Petrarch, was one of the greatest Italian poets and one of the first “humanists” in history. Born in Arezzo in 1304, Petrarch spent most of his 70 years assiduously studying the classics, writing in Latin and traveling. His extensive travel through Europe earned him the title of “the first tourist” by some scholars. Petrarch’s father, Ser Pietro, known as Petracco, was a Florentine jurist and a friend of the poet Dante Alighieri. Similar to Dante, Petracco belonged to the White Guelphs’ who advocated for moderate papal power and upon the White Ghelphs’ defeat at the hands of the Black Guelph faction, was sentenced to exile as was his friend Dante. Petracco left Florence for Arezzo in 1302, while his son Petrarch was very young. The family followed the French Pope Clement V’s displacement to Avignon, where the seat of the papacy remained throughout Petrarch’s life. At his father’s urging, Petrarch studied law in Montpellier and then in Bologna, where he would remain for six years. While he was passionate about civil law, Petrarch was not interested in legal practice. Instead he spent his time writing and studying Latin literature, and befriended young poets. Passion for the classics After his father’s death, Petrarch abandoned his studies and returned to Avignon, where he took up clerical jobs to be able to spend his free time writing. On Good Friday in 1327 while in the church of Sainte-Claire d’Avignon, he met the love of
PORTRAIT OF FRANCESCO PETRARCA
16th century, oil on panel, from Florentine School
