Villani's Chronicle
Being Selections from the First Nine Books of the Croniche Fiorentine of Giovanni Villani
"Villani's Chronicle" by Giovanni Villani is a 14th-century history of Florence written between 1300 and 1348. Inspired by Rome's first Jubilee, Villani chronicles his city's origins and development through detailed year-by-year accounts. The work documents building projects, population statistics, commerce, disasters, and pivotal battles between Guelphs and Ghibellines. His chronicle blends medieval reliance on divine providence with a modernistic statistical approach, continuing until the Black Death claimed his life in 1348.