Matteo Villani

Very little is known for certain about his personal life, but Matteo Villani was a Florentine historian and writer born around 1283 and dead in 1363. He was the brother of the better-known chronicler Giovanni Villani, and after Giovanni died during the plague of 1348, Matteo took over the family chronicle and continued it until his own death.

Like his brother, he had experience in commerce and public life, which helped shape the practical, observant tone of his history. His chronicle is an important source for the history of Florence and Italy in the mid-1300s, especially for its descriptions of the Black Death, politics, war, and the shifting social world that followed the plague.

Later the work was continued by Filippo Villani, making the Villani chronicle a remarkable family record across generations. Matteo’s style is often seen as less polished than Giovanni’s, but historians still value it highly for its immediacy and detail.