John Florio's dictionary represents the first great contribution to the bilingual Anglo-italian and European lexicography.

This work, which even precedes in time the Vocabulary published by the academics of the Crusca (Venice 1612) is little known today. It was shown to be, nevertheless, a basic tool for the diffusion of the Italian language in Renaissance England.

 A Worlde of Wordes records 46,000 Italian words, mostly drawn from the major authors of Italian literature of the 14th and 16th centuries, many of whom (like Aretino) were put in the list of the "forbidden books" by the Roman Catholic Church. With so many literary words, it also contains a considerable number of scientific terms, dialecticisms, and idioms

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