The Sicilian Poets were a circle of 13th-century writers connected with the court of Emperor Frederick II in Palermo. They are best known for developing one of the earliest major traditions of Italian lyric poetry, often writing courtly love poems in the Sicilian vernacular and helping shape later Italian poetic language and form.
Example
At Frederick's court, the singer wrote of distant love:
My heart is tied where your footsteps go,
and every dawn returns me to your name.