Born at Castelfiorentino, Tuscany, of a noble family, the impoverished but still prestigious Attavanti, Verdiana was noted from an early age for her generosity and sense of charity.

The only response to her uncle's irritated reaction was the invitation to wait twenty-four hours: effectively the next day God rewarded the girl's charity and confidence by finding the harvest so generously donated intact.

[4] The structure of the Santuario di Santa Verdiana in Castelfiorentino incorporates the pre-existing Oratory of Sant'Antonio and the cell that welcomed the saint in the last thirty-four years of her life.

Very little else is known about him other than the fact that around 1340 he collected and assembled from preexisting materials a compendium of the lives of saints venerated in Florence and Tuscany, now contained in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana.

He entered into the Dominican order in Florence in 1383, and after acting as a lettore for many years in various convents, including those of the Roman and Lombard provinces, he was made bishop of Acaia in 1413 by Pope John XXII.

His account borrowed faithfully from Biagio, though Giacomini sought to enrich it with miracles and information on the cult and translations of Verdiana known from contemporary traditions and his own experience.