They had obtained from the Government permission for his return; and he was absolved from the sentence of banishment in which he had been included with his father.

But, whether Petrarch was offended with the Florentines for refusing to restore his paternal estate, or whether he was detained by accident in Lombardy, he put off his expedition to Florence and repaired to Parma.

It was there that he learned the certainty of the Tribune's fall.
From Parma he went to Verona, where he arrived on the evening of the 25th of January, 1348.

His son, we have already mentioned, was placed at Verona, under the tuition of Rinaldo di Villa Franca.

Here, soon after his arrival, as he was sitting among his books, Petrarch felt the shock of a tremendous earthquake.