This essay discusses the city of Florence in Brunetto Latini’s time, highlightingthe peculiar structure of its society, which lacked in traditional noble families,its economy strongly influenced by commerce and the banking sector and itspolitical order in the transition from the Guelf and Angevin rule to the priorate.Against the backdrop of a similar context, the analysis ofRettorica,Tresor, andTresorettoclarifies the moral and political purpose that unites Brunetto’s verna-cular works as well as the audience they were intended for: an audience of rea-ders sociologically consistent and able to adapt themselves to the changingcontingencies of their time.