Customer Reviews

Two Memoirs of Renaissance Florence: The Diaries of Buonaccorso Pitti and Gregorio Dati

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The Buonaccorso Pitti diary gives a remarkable view into the day-to-day life of Tuscan nobility. It is even more amazing when one considers the subsequent history of his descendents, the house of Buonaccorsi di Pistoia.

If readers find Pitti's memoir rambling and not very Florentine in its focus, they should turn instead to the revealing record book of Gregorio Dati, a Florentine merchant with multiple business ventures, wives, children, political offices, encounters with the plague, religious musings. An amazing and very important primary source for early 15th century Italian life. Try counting the wives, children and funerals.

Fast delivery and book in great condition! This is a great book to read it gives great insight to the people of the time period.

I had to read this book for a college history class. I was impressed that these ancient diaries had been preserved and had been brought into the printing world. I was not impressed with the content. Pitti's diary did not tell me anything about Florence. He traveled too much because of his affinity with the French. He seemed to me like a conservative, wealthy extremist who wrote the diary for his own self indulgence. My understanding of Renaissance Florence is no sharper than before this book because the life of this man could not have been indicative of the rest of the population of Florence.