Giovanni Boccaccio

The *Decameron*, composed between 1351 and 1353, is a frame narrative featuring ten characters who escape the plague-stricken Florence. To pass the time, they each tell a story every day for ten days — which is where the title comes from, as it means "ten days" in Greek. The collection includes a hundred tales, varying from keen social satire to romance and outright comedy, making it a standout piece in world literature.

Both are significant, but he is primarily remembered for his prose. Early in his career, he penned verse romances and narrative poems, such as *Filostrato* (which Chaucer later adapted into *Troilus and Criseyde*) and *Teseida*, an epic poem that influenced Chaucer's *Knight's Tale*. However, the *Decameron* is so dominant in his legacy that his poetry often gets overshadowed.

Directly and profoundly, the *Decameron* starts with a striking firsthand account of the 1348 plague in Florence — capturing the chaos, social breakdown, and bodies lying in the streets. This introduction does more than set the scene; it lends the subsequent storytelling a genuine moral gravity. The characters share their stories because life is fleeting, and enjoying it is important.

They met in the late 1340s and formed a true friendship as well as intellectual allies. Boccaccio held Petrarch in high regard and even attempted to gift him a manuscript of Dante's works at one point. Their correspondence continued regularly until Petrarch passed away in 1374. Petrarch's serious approach to humanism had a lasting impact on Boccaccio's later Latin scholarship, while Boccaccio's earlier passion for vernacular literature had already made a significant mark.

Quite a lot. *De mulieribus claris* ("On Famous Women") is a collection of biographies celebrating notable women from history and myth — making it one of the first works in Western literature to focus solely on women. In contrast, *De casibus virorum illustrium* explored the downfalls of famous men. He also authored *Genealogia deorum gentilium*, a comprehensive encyclopedia of classical mythology that became a key reference for Renaissance scholars.

Chaucer was an attentive reader. The *Canterbury Tales* takes its frame-narrative structure directly from the *Decameron*, and several of its individual tales can be traced back to Boccaccio's stories. Shakespeare also tapped into *Decameron* plots, using them as sources for *All's Well That Ends Well* and *Cymbeline*. Boccaccio is one of those writers whose influence can be felt everywhere, even if his name isn't always cited.

Not really. Modern translations, particularly Wayne Rebhorn's, are easy to read and enjoyable. The stories are genuinely entertaining, featuring clever priests, scheming lovers, and merchants trying to outsmart one another. You don’t need any special background to appreciate it. You can dive in at random; the frame structure allows each tale to stand alone.

Start with the *Decameron*. Begin with the plague introduction — it’s brief yet captivating — then choose any tale from Day One to grasp the rhythm. If you're looking for something shorter before diving into the entire book, check out the tale of Federigo's falcon (Day Five, Story Nine). It's about fifty pages long in most editions and stands out as one of the most beautifully crafted short stories ever written.