Giovanni Boccaccio was a writer and poet. The son of a Tuscan merchant and an unknown woman, he was born in 1313. He spent his early years in Florence before moving to Naples where he met the woman who he immortalised as "Fiammetta". His early works include the poem "Filostrato" and the allegorical "Amorosa visione". In 1350 he met Petrarch, who became a friend and had a great influence on his work. Between 1348 and 1352 Boccaccio wrote the "Decameron", for which he is most famous. This secular classic is a collection of 100 tales which are set against the background of the Black Death. He was influential in raising the status of vernacular literature, and was also closely involved in Renaissance humanism. His last years were troubled by illnesses, and he died in Certaldo in 1375.