Cronica

…evaluation of this kind was Cronica (1308–64; “Chronicles”) compiled by brothers Giovanni, Matteo, and Filippo Villani. In Filippo Villani’s portion (1364) of the family’s ongoing work, he celebrates his native city, Florence, as the climax of civilization. Villani discusses the lives of famous men, including some artists. His writing set…

His Cronica, or Storia fiorentina, is a vast and ambitious universal history in 12 books. It was planned as a history of events from the fall of the Tower of Babel to Villani’s own time, seen from and focussed on Florence. Villani began the work in…

Villani’s Cronica (“Chronicle”), in 12 books written from 1308 to 1348, is less personal; it follows the medieval tradition by beginning with the building of the Tower of Babel and includes many apocryphal tales. The last six books, which cover the period from Charles II’s Italian…