The Eleventh and Twelfth Books of Giovanni Villani's "New...
Diakité, Rala I / Sneider, Matthew T Giovanni Villani's New Chronicle traces the history of Florence, Italy, and Europe over a vast sweep of time - from the destruction of the Tower of Babel to the outbreak of the Black Death in 1348. In the eleventh and twelfth books, Villani represents a particularly eventful period (1326-1342) in the history of his city, whose grandeur is depicted in the famous and oft-cited chapter describing its income and expenditure. The dramatic account f...