The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio

As the Black Death ravages Florence, ten young men and women flee to a country villa and pass the time telling stories—one hundred tales in all, ranging from the bawdy and comic to the tragic, romantic, and cunning. Boccaccio’s dazzling frame-tale collection celebrates wit, desire, fortune, and human ingenuity with earthy humor and narrative brilliance, painting a vivid panorama of medieval life. A cornerstone of world literature, it shaped storytelling for centuries and influenced Chaucer, Shakespeare, and countless others. Endlessly entertaining and startlingly frank, The Decameron remains one of the greatest and most delightful story collections ever written, a monument of the early Renaissance and the joy of the human comedy.