Petrarch

Petrarch (Francesco Petracco; 1304–74), Italian poet and early humanist. Supported by influential patrons, he spent his life in study, travel, and writing. He wrote poetry, epistles, and other prose works in Latin, but also much in the vernacular Italian, of which he is one of the earliest masters. He himself rated his Latin works highest, but his fame now rests on the Italian Canzoniere, mostly sonnets inspired by his love for the enigmatic Laura, who died of plague in 1348.