Boccaccio, Giovanni

( bok - kat'cho,) a celebrated Italian novelist, was the son of a Florentine merchant, but B. in Paris, 1313. His pa ion for literature led him to abandon, first, commerce, and next the study of law. He spent some years at Naples, and while there, in 1341, fell in love with a beautiful girl, a natural daughter of the King of Naples, for whom he wrote several of his works, and whom he named "Fiammetta." He was afterwards patronized by Queen Joanna, and for her, as much as for his "Fiammetta," is said to have written his chief work, the Dec a me rone. On his father's death he returned to Florence, where he was greatly honored, and was sent on several public emba ies. Among others, he was sent to Padua to communicate to Petrarch the tidings of his recall to Florence. He gained the friendship of the illustrious poet, and enjoyed it through life. Boccaccio, like Petrarch, contributed greatly to the revival of the study of cla ical literature, spent much time and money in collecting manuscripts, and was the first to bring into Italy, from Greece, copies of the Iliad and the Ody ey. A solemn me age from a dying monk, about 1361, deeply impre ed Boccaccio, and led to a remarkable reformation in his manner of life. He was chosen by the Florentines to occupy the chair which was established in 1373 for the exposition of the "Divina Com media." In the following year he had to mourn the lo of his master and friend, Petrarch; and, after some months of broken health, he D. at Certaldo, in Dec., 1375. The Dec a me rone, on which his fame rests, is a collection of a hundred tales, full of liveline and humor, but often licentious and indecent. The book was published about 1352, and, after two centuries, was condemned by two popes and by the Council of Trent. B. wrote La Teseide, imitated by Chaucer, and other poems and romances, besides many works in Latin. See Life and Works of B., by Dr. M. Landau, 3 vols. (Stuttgart, 1869-75-77). Boccanera, ( bok - ka - nair'a ,) the name of a noble Italian family, who figured in Italian history during the 13th and 14th centuries. One of them, SIMON B. , was the first doge or duke of Genoa, being elected in 1339. D. of poison, 1362. Bocchetta, ( bok - ket'ta ,) a celebrated pa of the A pennines, the key of the route from Novi to Genoa, and from which a magnificent view may be had of the surrounding scenery. Redoubts were raised here by the Imperialists in 1746, and the French pa ed the defile in 1796.