Giovanni Boccaccio (UK: /bəˈkætʃioʊ/, US: /boʊˈkɑːtʃ(i)oʊ, bə-/, Italian: [dʒoˈvanni bokˈkattʃo]; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian author and poet. He wrote several famous works, such as On Famous Women and the Decameron. Boccaccio was the first poet, who used ottava rima in longer poems. Thus he started long tradition of employing this form in epic poems. Some of Geoffrey Chaucer's works were based on Boccaccio's poems.
