Giotto was born into a family of farmers around 1267 in Colle, close to Vecchio di Mugello. As the story goes, Giovanni Cimabue, the great painter of the time discovered Giotto while he was sketching his sheep in his village. From there Giotto di Bondone went into training with a paint master in a local town where he learnt much from the Byzantine masters. Giotto's family moved to the city of Florence, then a Republic with a booming economy and under the control of the Guelf. Around 1280, Giotto very likely attended the workshop of Cimabue where later he became his apprentice.