Literary History of the Fourteenth Century

Any one wishing to investigate the literary development of the golden century of early Italian literature, the Trecento, must read Natalino Sapegno’s extensive writings on the subject, in particular his Storia Letteraria del Trecento (A Literary History of the Fourteenth Century). The original Italian edition appeared in April 1963 as part of the vast collection, La Letteratura Italiana – Storia e Testi (Italian Literature – History and Texts), directed by Raffaele Mattioli, Pietro Pancrazi, and Alfredo Schiaffini for the Riccardo Ricciardi publishing house. Storia Letteraria del Trecento focuses equally on Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio while minor writers are introduced in proportion to their importance and position in the cultural, historical, and social events of the time.