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How did the Carthusian monk Pietro Petrone affect Giovanni Boccaccio’s later life?
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Giovanni Boccaccio
Italian poet and scholar Giovanni Boccaccio, detail of a fresco by Andrea del Castagno; in the Cenacolo di Sant'Apollonia, Florence.
In 1362, the Carthusian monk Pietro Petrone, while on his deathbed, sent a fellow monk named Gioacchino Ciani to urge Giovanni Boccaccio to renounce his worldly studies and pursuits. This encounter intensified Boccaccio’s existing religious scruples, leading him to consider burning his own literary works and selling his library. Ultimately, it was Petrarch who intervened and successfully dissuaded Boccaccio from destroying his life's work.1