After following Florence and Tuscany through a mini golden age from the 1280’s to the 1330’s we see things really start to go downhill with social tensions between the Arti Maggiori, the greater guilds, and the arti minori, the lesser guilds, exacerbated also by the very brief dominion over Florence by Walter of Brienne.

We then take a brief look at the life of Giovani bocaccio and see the plague through his eyes with his great work the Decameron.