Gregorio Dati, a key businessman and manufacturer “who was active primarily in the manufacture and sale of silk cloth,” utilized his diary to track and discuss both his life and his dealings within late Medieval Florence. He gave extensive background information on his family, particularly in terms of dates of key events, as well as the monetary dealings within his partnership and personal business. This document disclosed “the private life of a successful Florentine merchant,” which was necessary in order to discuss the intricacies behind business and commerce within fifteenth century Florence. Each detail reflected what Dati considered important in his life, and his diary dictated different economic, social, and cultural forces at with…show more content… Because culture relied on the people within the city, as well as the money the city needed to function, this aspect of Dati’s diary was combined with the previous two factors at play. However, one interesting aspect of Dati’s diary was his combination of economy, society, and culture, a mixture which provided historians a window into the dealings and on-goings of late Medieval Florence, specifically through the eyes of a successful businessman who understood Italy’s economic sphere. He was able to illustrate how Italian culture emphasized religion, monetary value, family, children, marriage, and success. All of these individual factors came together within Dati’s writing to portray what Florence viewed as essential in life. Throughout the journal, he had plenty to say about all of these aspects, and this abundance of detail also established his own personal investment in what Florence considered to be fundamental for a successful reputation and social standing. His ideology was ultimately, and non-surprisingly, shaped by his life and childhood in late Medieval Florence, and this mentality gave historians a clue as to how Florentine culture functioned in the fifteenth century. Even the lack of passion within the diary gave historians an indication of how men expressed themselves; because diaries were popular while personal passion and expression were not, it could also be presumed that Medieval Florentine culture didn’t allow much room for personal expression. These diaries were meant for numbers, for tracking and analyzing and scrutinizing business plans and partnerships—clearly, these fields left little to no room for personal expression and passion. The closest Dati came to passion within his writing was when he either wrote the name of God or when he described and named his children, demonstrating how Florentine culture placed a heavy emphasis on both
