Although Petrarch was prouder of his Latin than of his Italian verses, he too greatly perfected Italian poetry, thus enabling his personal friend Boccaccio to handle the language with lasting success in the tales which compose his Decameron.

These are the Italian equivalents of the Canterbury Tales, and in several cases both writers have used the same themes.
By the fifteenth century, and almost simultaneously with the introduction of printing, came the Renaissance, when a number of old epics were reworked.

Roland--or, as he is known in Italy, Orlando--is the stock-hero of this new school of poets, several of whom undertook to relate his love adventures.

Hence we have "Orlando Innamorato," by Boiardo and Berni, as well as "Morgante Maggiore" by Pulci, where Roland also figures.

In style and tone these works are charming, but the length of the poems and the involved adventures of their numerous characters prove very wearisome to modern readers.