Guittone d'Arezzo

Guittone d'Arezzo
Giorgio Vasari, Six Tuscan Poets (c. 1544); left to right: Guittone, Cino da Pistoia, Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, Dante Alighieri and Guido Cavalcanti. Oil on panel, 132.8 × 131.1 cm (52.2 × 51.6 in). Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota
Bornc.1235
Arezzo
Died21 August 1294(1294-08-21) (aged 58–59)
Florence
Occupation
  • knight
  • poet
LanguageItalian (Tuscan dialect)
PeriodHigh Middle Ages
Genres
Literary movementTuscan School
ParentsViva di Michele (father)

Guittone d'Arezzo (Arezzo, c. 1235  21 August 1294) was a Tuscan poet and the founder of the Tuscan School. He was an acclaimed secular love poet before his conversion in the 1260s, when he became a religious poet joining the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1256, he was exiled from Arezzo due to his Guelf sympathies.