On January 17, 1377, Pope Gregory XI returned the papacy to Rome, ending nearly 70 years of the Avignon Papacy, during which the popes had resided in France rather than Italy. This move, though controversial, was intended to restore the papacy's prestige and authority in Italy, but it also sowed the seeds for the Western Schism that would erupt shortly after Gregory's death. The return to Rome marked a pivotal moment in the history of the Catholic Church and the broader religious culture of Europe.

The return of the papacy to Rome was a momentous event for European poets and scholars, many of whom had grown up with the papacy in exile and saw the move as a symbol of a new era of reform. The event was celebrated in Latin and vernacular poetry, which hailed Gregory as a restorer of the Church, but it also gave rise to satirical verses that criticized the corruption and worldliness of the Avignon popes. The papacy's return to Rome also influenced the writings of Italian humanists such as Petrarch, who had long called for the papacy to return to its ancient seat, and it helped foster a new generation of religious poetry that engaged with the tensions of the Great Schism.