Franco-Italian, also known as Franco-Venetian or Franco-Lombard, in Italy as ''lingua franco-veneta'' "Franco-Venetan language", was a

literary language Literary language is the Register (sociolinguistics), register of a language used when writing in a formal, academic writing, academic, or particularly polite tone; when speaking or writing in such a tone, it can also be known as formal language. ...

used in parts of northern Italy, from the mid-13th century to the end of the 14th century. It was employed by writers including

Brunetto Latini Brunetto Latini (who signed his name ''Burnectus Latinus'' in Latin and ''Burnecto Latino'' in Italian; –1294) was an Italian philosopher, scholar, notary, politician and statesman. He was a teacher and friend of Dante Alighieri. Life Brunetto ...

and

Rustichello da Pisa Rustichello da Pisa, also known as Rusticiano (fl. late 13th century), was an Italian romance writer in Franco-Italian language. He is best known for co-writing Marco Polo's autobiography, ''The Travels of Marco Polo'', while they were in priso ...

and was presumably only a written language, and not a spoken one. Absent a standard form for literary works of the

Gallo-Italic languages The Gallo-Italic, Gallo-Italian, Gallo-Cisalpine or simply Cisalpine languages constitute the majority of the Romance languages of northern Italy: Piedmontese, Lombard, Emilian, Ligurian, and Romagnol. In central Italy they are spoken in th ...

at the time, writers in genres including the

romance Romance may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings ** Romantic orientation, the classification of the sex or gender with which a pers ...

employed a hybrid language strongly influenced by the

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

(at this period, the group called

langues d'oïl The ''langues d'oïl'' are a dialect continuum that includes standard French and its closest relatives historically spoken in the northern half of France, southern Belgium, and the Channel Islands. They belong to the larger category of Gallo- ...

). They sometimes described this type of literary Franco-Italian simply as French. Franco-Italian literature began to appear in northern Italy in the first half of the 13th century, with the ''Livre d'Enanchet''. Its vitality was exhausted around the 15th century with the

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

copy of the '' Huon d'Auvergne'' (1441). Prominent masterpieces include two versions of the ''

Chanson de Roland The ''Song of Roland'' () is an 11th-century based on the deeds of the Frankish kingdom, Frankish military leader Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in AD 778, during the reign of the Charlemagne, Emperor Charlemagne. It is the oldest surv ...

'', the very first version of ''

The Travels of Marco Polo ''Book of the Marvels of the World'' ( Italian: , lit. 'The Million', possibly derived from Polo's nickname "Emilione"), in English commonly called ''The Travels of Marco Polo'', is a 13th-century travelogue written down by Rustichello da Pis ...

'' and the '' Entrée d'Espagne''. The last original text of the Franco-Italian tradition is probably ''Aquilon de Bavière'' by Raffaele da Verona, who wrote it between

1379 Year 1379 (Roman numerals, MCCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events January–December * May 29 – John I of Castile, John I succeeds his father, Henry II of Castile, Henry II, as King of Kin ...

and

1407 Year 1407 ( MCDVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events January–March * January 20 – Ming–Việt War: China conquers Dong Do, the eastern capital of Dai Ngu (now Hanoi, capital of Vietna ...

Notes

{{Interlanguage varieties Mixed languages Languages extinct in the 15th century Languages attested from the 13th century Medieval Italian literature Extinct languages of Italy Gallo-Romance languages Extinct languages of Europe