The Accademia della Crusca was founded in Florence in 1583 to cultivate and regulate the Italian language. Its members promoted Tuscan models and later produced an influential dictionary. The academy reflects a late Renaissance desire to define literary purity and national linguistic authority.

La Crusca shaped debates about poetic diction, canon formation and who had authority over a living language. Its work influenced later European academies and reminds readers that literary standards are cultural choices, not natural facts.