“Gold, silver, jewels, purple garments, houses built of marble, groomed estates, pious paintings, caparisoned steeds, and other things of this kind offer a mutable and superficial pleasure; books give delight to the very marrow of one’s bones. They speak to us, consult with us, and join with us in a living and intense intimacy.”
― Petrarch

Francisco Petracco was an Italian scholar, poet, and humanist. Falling madly in love, albeit unrequitedly, on Good Friday 1327 with an unknown woman, his future poems were all addressed to Laura his idealized beloved. In creating them, he transformed both literature and the intellectual landscape of the Renaissance.

In 1341, Petrach was crowned the poet laureate by the Roman Senate on the Capitoline Hill in Rome.  With his championing of classical texts and his emphasis on human potential, Petrarch is very much considered the father of the ‘humanism’ which became a defining cultural feature of the Renaissance.