Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca) was born in 1304 in Arezzo, Tuscany, to Florentine parents. His early years were spent in the Avignon area of France, to which he repeatedly returned after many trips around Europe. Although he was a cleric in minor orders, his whole life was spent as a scholar and man of letters. His extensive works in Latin have made him known as the first man of the Renaissance, but the Italian poems of his Canzoniere (composed and revised over more than thirty years) are the most influential of his works and of most interest to the modern reader. He died in 1374 and is buried at Arqua, near Padua. Born in Liverpool, J.G. Nichols is a poet, literary critic and translator. He has translated the poems of Gabriele D'Annunzio, Guido Gozzano (for which he was awarded the John Florio prize) and Giacomo Leopardi. His translation of Petrarch's Canzoniere won the Monselice Prize in 2000. His translation of Petrarch's My Secret Book, a Latin prose work with a fascinating relevance to the Canzoniere, was published by Hesperus Press in November 2002.
