The book, which for the first time collected translations into Russian with a parallel text of the originals of the outstanding works of Leonardo Bruni, humanist and chancellor of the Florentine Republic, invites you to an extensive journey through the pages of history and literature of Italy from the last three decades of the XIV to the first half of the XV century. The year of Bruni's birth is conditional - 1370, the city of Arezzo is unconditional, where, I think, he passed the basics of literacy. From about 1395 he studied law at the University of Florence, listened to the rhetoric and interpretation of the classics from Giovanni Malpagini (who served until 1368 as a scribe of Petrarch), but most importantly, he met the Chancellor of the Florentine Republic Coluccio Salutati - an exemplary and leading successor to Petrarch and Boccaccio in the education of talents - having gained access to his impressive library and initiation into the plans of the chancellor-humanist for ideological and cultural renewal.