ABSTRACT
Petrarch's engagement with the Venetian-Genoese War of 1350-55 suggests that a measure of caution needs to be employed in certain regards. Often seen as the father of humanism, Petrarch undertook a multiplicity of diplomatic missions during his life. By the middle of the century, an intimate connection had begun to be forged between diplomacy and humanism that was to grow stronger as both state institutions and the new learning matured. The motivation for the war was all the more incomprehensible to Petrarch given that such unrestrained malice had led Venice to seek assistance from mercenary, perfidious foreigners and caused Italians to be subjected to violence committed by barbarians. Urging both Venice and Genoa to bring an end to hostilities, Petrarch appealed to a notion of Italy which corresponded to a long-running interest in Italian identity, and which contrasted the peoples of the peninsula with foreigners or barbarians.
