Giovanni Villani

Giovanni Villani (c. 1276–1348) was a Florentine banker, official and chronicler. A shareholder of the Peruzzi bank from 1300, he visited Rome for the jubilee that year and began his year-by-year Nuova Cronica, a history of Florence rich in economic and statistical detail.

He served as prior and, from 1316, as master of the mint, and was present at the defeat by Castruccio Castracani at Altopascio in 1325. After the Buonaccorsi company he co-directed collapsed, he was imprisoned. He died of the Black Death in 1348; his brother Matteo and nephew continued the work.