Ironically, the Tuscans are often credited with inventing the modern Italian language. History books and encyclopedias alike record that the standard literary form of Italian is based on a Florentine dialect called “volgare”, which means “of the Volgo” or “of the people”.
The credit goes to Dante Alighieri, who wrote Divina Commedia in said dialect. This was groundbreaking because texts up until that point were written in Latin–a “proper” language–and the “vulgar” dialect was spoken among the masses. Although the dialect is technically Italian’s predecessor, a modern Florentine (or even linguistic student, like myself) would have some trouble recognizing words in Dante’s poems.
