Istituto francesco datini biography

Italian merchant (1335–1410)

Francesco di Marco Datini (c. 1335 – 16 August 1410) was an Italian merchant born in Prato. Datini is notable for having implemented the first partnership system in business in 1383.^[1]

Biography

Datini was one of four children of Marco di Datino and Monna Vermiglia, who, along with two of their children, both died as a result of the Black Death in 1348.

After his parents' death, he was raised by a woman whom he called his "substitute mother." Their relationship seems to have been a positive one. There is a letter from her signed, "Your mother in love."^[2]

Datini became an apprentice of a merchant in Florence.

In 1358, he joined a group of merchants who were going to Avignon, the city to which the papacy had moved at the time.^[2][1] Datini stayed in Avignon until 1382.^[1] His first business was in the arms trade, which was quite profitable in Avignon during the Hundred