The course aims to introduce students to the life and works of the Tre Corone – Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio, known as the Three Crowns – the three major writers of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance in Italy. The works of these three writers have inspired many subsequent writers, artists, dramatists and film makers, and their influence from the start has extended outside Italy, across Europe and beyond. Students will also be introduced to some of the fundamental ideas about literature in the Middle Ages.