The Swerve: How the World Became Modern

Poggio is born in 1380 in Terranuova, a small town near Florence, Italy. His father, Guccio, a minor official, goes broke when Poggio is eight, and the family escapes creditors by moving to nearby Arezzo. In his teens, Poggio moves to Florence, hoping to make his fortune.

Florence is run by a handful of wealthy families—bankers, merchants, landowners, and clothmakers. To help him enter into their domain, Poggio brings an impressive and useful skill: handwriting. He proves to be an exceptional scribe, with a modern and clear handwriting style that he has a part in inventing. “What Poggio accomplished, in collaboration with a few others, remains startling [...]”; their new script “served as the basis for the development of italics” (115).

Poggio’s predecessor in the search for antiquities, Petrarch, argues that the classic Roman and Greek culture has been dead for centuries despite people’s frequent use of its symbols, such as in the term “Holy Roman Empire.” Petrarch wants the real thing revived, and Poggio agrees. His work as a copyist becomes famous; he can afford advanced lessons in Latin language and culture. Like his father, Poggio becomes a notary—a position somewhat like a lawyer’s—and presents himself for employment at the city’s ruling body, the Signoria.