(Italian Petrarca) (1304-1374) Italian poet. He was a devotee of the Classical tradition. His Il Canzoniere is composed of sonnets in praise of his idealized love, “Laura”, whom he first saw 1327 (she was a married woman and refused to become his mistress). The dialogue Secretum meum/My Secret is a spiritual biography.
From 1337 he often stayed in secluded study at his home at Vaucluse, near Avignon, then the residence of the popes. Eager to restore the glories of Rome, he wanted to return the papacy there. He was a friend of the poet Boccaccio, and supported the political reformer Cola di Rienzi's attempt to establish a republic 1347.