Petrarch depicts Sette as a physically small man of fragile health but with a subtle mind and good judgement.
[1] Sette first met Petrarch in Genoa in 1311, while his family was relocating to Avignon in Provence, where they settled the following year.
[1] Sette and Petrarch studied grammar and rhetoric together in Carpentras under Convenevole da Prato [it].
They visited Rimini and Venice in the company of Petrarch's preceptor (guardian) before returning to Provence.
He read Cicero and also the works of his friend, who in one letter laments that Sette had not received his De remediis utriusque fortunae.
[6] In 1339, Pope Benedict XII, who sought to regain influence at Genoa following the creation of the dogate, appointed Sette to a vacant canonry there and named him archdeacon of the cathedral.
[9] He was still in Provence in 1355, when he helped arrange an exchange of benefices between Petrarch and their mutual friend, Lodewijk Heyligen.
[10] One of his first recorded acts was to intercede on behalf of the Republic of Genoa in its negotiations with the Crown of Aragon over its rights in Sardinia and Corsica.
[11] As archbishop, Sette maintained close relations with the papacy and with the doge, Simone Boccanegra, both strongly opposed to the Visconti of Milan.
[1] In 1364, he received from Pope Urban V powers that allowed him to reduce his reliance on vicars in the administration of justice.
His epitaph, inscribed some thirty years later and now lost, gave his date of death improbably as 20 November 1367, before his will was made.
[15] Seniles 10.2 is an autobiographical letter in which Petrarch reminisces about he and Sette's school days, first trip to Vaucluse and time at university.