Son of an exiled Florentine clerk, Petrarch was born in Arezzo, Italy, but was raised at the court of the Pope in Avignon in southern France. He studied the classics in France and continued his education at the University of Bologna in Italy. Less than a year after his return to Avignon in 1326, Petrarch fell in love with the woman he referred to as Laura in his most famous poetry. Although he never revealed her true name, nor, apparently, ever expressed his love to her directly, he made her immortal with his Canzoniere (date unknown), or songbook, a collection of lyric poems and sonnets that rank among the most beautiful written in Italian, or in any other language. Like the major Italian poet Dante Alighieri, Petrarch chose to write his most intimate feelings in his native Italian, rather than the Latin customary at that time. Petrarch used Latin for his more formal works, however. He incorrectly assumed that he would be remembered for the Latin works, but it was his Italian lyric poetry that influenced both the content and form of all subsequent European poetry. Petrarch's sonnet form was prized by English poets as an alternative to English poet William Shakespeare's sonnet form.
Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi, son of Count Monaldo and Countess Adelaide, was born in Recanati, Italy, on June 29, 1798. Leopardi enjoyed the company of his brother Carlo and sister Paolina, with whom he played such games as dressing up in clerical wear and saying mass, or acting in historical dramas. Encouraged to learn by his parents, Giacomo Leopardi was able to read and write Greek by the age of 15. It was his ability at poetry that kept him sane when, at 18, he lost most of his eyesight and developed a severely curved spine. Leopardi fell in love with his married cousin Countess Geltrude Cassi, with whom he had a powerful affair, in 1817. Nine years later, Leopardi fell in love with yet another married countess, Teresa Carniani Malvezzi, whose husband put an end to the affair. Leopardi channeled his anguish over his physical condition and emotionally exhausting romances into his poetry, fueled by the enthusiasm of his mentor, Pietro Giordani, and by the financial aid of such persons as publisher Antonio Stella, who paid Leopardi for his editing of works by classical writers. Although his poetry is usually grim and gloomy, his attention to detail with outdoor scenes is praised by critics, such as in his shortly-before-death poem, "The Broom," about a flower's growth. Giacomo Leopardi died on June 15, 1837, in Naples, Italy.
