Iris Origo tells the story of the merchant Datini from Prato in Tuscany, a classic self-made man of the Renaissance: his travels, his daily life, his marriage, and his business dealings between God and profit. By chance, after centuries, the complete business and private correspondence of the merchant Francesco di Marco Datini was discovered under a staircase in his still-preserved palace. From these papers, Iris Origo reconstructed the vivid portrait of a late medieval self-made man. At the same time, Datini's correspondence with his wife provides insight into the daily and marital life of the fourteenth century.