Laure and Petrarque
On the 6th of April 1327, at a morning mass in the church of Sainte-Claire in Avignon, Petrarque caught a glimpse of Laure de Noves.
He instantly fell in love with her. However, she remained impassive in spite of his poetry.
Laure had married Hugues de Sade, two years before in the chapel of the White Penitents (the current library Marc MIELLY in the center of the village). She did not care about this humanist originating from the lower middle class of Florence.
Whereas Petrarque, preferring the solitude of Fontaine de Vaucluse, vainly multiplied his sonnets to his beloved, she gave birth to more than ten children.
She died of the plague in 1348, on the day she was 40 and she is buried in the church of the Minor Friars of Saint-François d'Assise in Avignon.
Petrarque carried on praising her. All his "Canzoniere" is dedicated to her. In this anthology of poems written in tuscan langage, Petrarque praises Laure with sincere and intimate accents which make him the first poet of our modern era.
The Tourist Office of Noves is currently in contact with the city of Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy, birthplace of Petrarque.
Cultural exchanges are currently under study between the xity and the Club des Jumelages de Noves.
http://www.accademiapetrarca.it/
For more informations, you can look the text of Marc MAYNEGRE on Avignon-et-Provence.com
