In 1612, the Accademia della Crusca published the first edition of its Vocabolario in Venice, the first dictionary of the Italian language and a landmark in European lexicography. This monumental work of over a thousand folio pages established the Tuscan dialect, as used by the great Florentine writers of the Trecento, as the model for the Italian literary language. The Crusca dictionary set a standard for national dictionaries across Europe and became a model for the Académie française.

The Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca had an immediate and profound impact on Italian poetry, codifying the language of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio as the literary norm. This ensured that subsequent Italian poets would write in a language deeply rooted in the Trecento tradition, influencing the development of Italian verse for centuries. The dictionary's success also inspired the creation of similar national dictionaries in other European countries, shaping the literary cultures of the continent.