Italy produced in the Fourteenth Century many other prose writers of note, though none so eminent as Boccaccio.
First and foremost we must mention the invaluable _Chronicle_ of GIOVANNI VILLANI. This historian rose in the service of the Florentine Republic until he became Prior. He was one of the many victims of the Black Death, and his unfinished work was continued by his brother MATTEO, and this continuation was completed by Matteo's son, FILIPPO. All these are quoted as classics by the Accademia della Crusca. According to competent judges, Giovanni was the most brilliant, Matteo the most noteworthy for the important events he narrates, and Filippo remarkable rather for industry and research than for ability as a writer.
The _Travels_ of MARCO POLO, a Venetian, were an inestimable contribution to the knowledge of remote countries. For centuries he lay very unjustly under the suspicion of falsehood and exaggeration, and it was only at a comparatively recent date that his veracity, nay, his scrupulous exactness, received a tardy vindication.
JACOPO PASSAVANTI, a Dominican. Friar, wrote a devotional book, entitled, _Lo Specchio della Penitenza,_ written in prose so musical and flowing as to be preferred by some to the prose of Boccaccio, because Passavanti never indulges in the over-elaboration sometimes to be detected in the pages of the _Decamerone._
GIOVANNI DA CATIGNANO known in the Calendar as the Blessed John of the Cells, after a dissolute youth was converted by the ardent exhortations of the Abbot of Vallombrosa, and in deep contrition ended his days as a hermit. Some letters from this interesting penitent are extant, written in a style so exquisitely Tuscan that they are quoted by the Accademia della Crusca as models of propriety and elegance.
Another canonized celebrity, SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA, is no less remarkable for the beauty of her style than for the beauty of her character.
A Life of Saint Francis of Assisi, entitled _Fioretti di San Francesco,_ has been highly praised for the freshness and simplicity of the language. The piety or the modesty of the author induced him to conceal his identity.
These religious writers, though treating of subjects so different, almost equalled Boccaccio in perfection of style, but the two authors who produced collections of stories somewhat similar to his, FRANCO SACCHETTI and SER GIOVANNI FIORENTINO, were very far indeed from approaching his mastery.