Gregorio Dati

Gregorio (Goro) Dati (15 April 1362 – 17 September 1435) was a Florentine merchant and diarist best known for the authorship of The Diaries of Gregorio Dati, which represents a major source for the social and economic historians of the Renaissance Florence, alongside the diaries of Buonaccorso Pitti. He kept a detailed diary outlining his business dealings as well as personal information about the births and deaths of his four successive wives and his 26 children.

Gregorio Dati is perhaps best known for exemplifying the late 14th-early 15th century Florentine silk merchant. Dati was a partner in numerous silk-producing firms over his lifetime, entering the industry when it was still young in Florence. The tumultuous financial situations he describes himself in his Libro Segreto are testament to risk of the industry. Typical of silk merchants, rather than rely on exporters, Dati’s firm sold silks directly in Valencia, a burgeoning Mediterranean trading hub. Complicating his commercial life were piracy, bankruptcy and litigation.

Dati was politically active in Florence, repeatedly serving as consul of the Silk Guild and, later in life, holding a series of public offices. In government, he served as head of the Florentine Signoria and in two bodies of government advisors. He was also Overseer of the prestigious Ospedale degli Innocenti and served in the judicial body Ten on Liberty and among the Five Defenders of the County.

Gregorio Dati’s writings have proven useful to historians and scholars alike due to his unique placement within Florentine society c. 1450. Dati’s diary and Libro Segreto represent a major source of information on the economics and social aspects of Florence during this time. His other works include Istoria Di Firenze dal 1380-1405, a chronicle of the Milanese-Florentine wars set in a cautionary tone rather than traditional chronicle and La Sfera, a manuscript containing astronomical charts and navigational maps. The complexity and thoroughness of his public works demonstrate that he had access to an informal education that involved Classical writers. Dati’s writing has been credited as a self-conscious portrayal of Florentine politics, economy and culture.

Dati survived two bouts of Bubonic plague that struck his family, and would go on to outlive three of his wives and 19 of his children. Dati did not keep his diary for the last eight years of his life, and he died in 1435.

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