the main personalities in this century were: dante alighieri (considered the "father" of the italian language); guittone d'arezzo; cimabue; giotto di bondone; guido da siena; nicola pisano; arnolfo di cambio and others. giotto, who was an italian painter and architect from florence, is generally thought of as the first in a line of great artists of the italian renaissance that stretched until leonardo da vinci and michelangelo.