Why is the identification of Fiammetta with a historical woman uncertain?

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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.

The identification of Fiammetta as a historical figure is considered uncertain because the primary evidence used to support the claim—passages from Giovanni Boccaccio’s own literary works—is deemed untrustworthy for historical verification.1

Specifically, scholars have attempted to link Fiammetta to a woman named Maria, purportedly the natural daughter of King Robert of Naples and the wife of a count of Aquino. However, this theory lacks any corroborating documentary evidence, and there is no historical proof that a woman by that name existed in the context described. Consequently, while Fiammetta remains a central figure in Boccaccio’s early literary output, her status as a real-world person remains speculative.1