Boccaccio, Giovanni, boh KAH chee oh or boh KAH choh, joh VAHN nee (1313?-1375), is generally considered the first great writer of prose in a modern language. Other major writers of his time, such as Geoffrey Chaucer of England and Petrarch and Dante of Italy, wrote their masterpieces in verse. Boccaccio's narrative poems and prose romances influenced Chaucer.