BOCCACCIO di Luigi Surdich

CHAPTER 1: THE FLORENTINE ADOLESCENCE AND THE NEAPOLITAN

WORKS
1. THE LITERATURE PASSION
After the composition of the Decameron, Boccaccio composed the Genealogie deorum gentilium,
an encyclopaedia dedicated to the myths of the classical literary tradition. At the age of seven, he
began writing driven by a desire to compose.
We don't know exactly where and when Boccaccio was born. He signs himself as "Giovanni di
Boccaccio da Certaldo". This is where his family came from. Thanks to an epistle of Petrarca, we
can know about the period of birth of Boccaccio: summer of 1313. Petrarca in the epistle claims to
have been born 9 years before him.
The father brings his son into the merchant world. Boccaccino, Boccaccio's father is elected as a
councillor, one years after the arrive in Naples. His son could attend the aristocratic world. The
knowledge of these two environments was very important in the composition of Decameron.Cino
da Pistoia, a lawyer and professor of law of Study, helped Boccaccio to learn about Dante's
stilnovo.
In the aristocratic world he befriended the young Duke Charles of Durres and met two princesses.
He has his first affective experience with a woman named Fiammetta, the illegitimate daughter of
King Robert.

His first text is of 1332: Elegia di Costanza -> a poem of 134 verses in Latin. The work presents a
dialogue between Constance, a young woman who died early and a forage. The forage heard her
pathetic reflection on the beauty ruined by death.
One of his works in 1334 : Caccia di Diana -> composed of 18 poems in Dantean’s tercets. It ‘s
based on the Diana-Venus contrast that represents the conflict between pudicity and love, chastity
and eros. After a hunting trip, Diana invites the women to sacrifice to Jupiter. A woman tells Diana
that all women prefer to make sacrifices for Venus. After we have a metamorphosis: all the “fiere”
(animali selvatici) became men-lovers. Among the “fiere” that turn into human creatures there is
also the poet (at the beginning he was a deer).
 2. THE NARRATIVE VOCATION
FILOCOLO
This is a novel in prose, composed during the year 1336-1338. We can do a comparison between
the “love effort” of the author to write with the effort tolerates/bears the protagonist Florio. There is
a connexion between author and protagonist, narrator and the story told -> metaliterary dimension
that characterizes the book.
At the beginning of the book we need that the beloved woman in this case Maria d’Aquino,
commissions the work to the author. She gives him some instructions about the language she
prefers, about the theme ecc..
The Filocolo is divided in 5 parts.
Boccaccio” establishes a narrative pact, a “patto romanzesco” -> it’s required a literary initiative to
the narrator. This creates a relationship of awareness that it is a narrative fiction. So what Maria
d'Aquino and Boccaccio tell us is a fiction within the fiction of the story of the two young lovers,
Florio and Biancofiore.
At the beginning of the work we find a woman loved by the author and the author himself who has
moved into the role of narrator.Boccaccio author who becomes Boccaccio narrator allows the latter
to go beyond the indication given by Maria d'Aquino.

Plot: this is the story of Florio, the son of the pagan king Felice, King of Spain and Biancifiore,
daughter of Romans and Christians. Florio and Biancifiore grew up together because she was
orphaned (dad -> died in battle / mom -> died giving birth). The two fall in love but are separated
because of different social classes. Biancifiore is sold to the king of Babylon and Florio, after
discovering that Biancifiore wasn’t dead, changes his name to Filocolo to go looking for her.
Filocolo, as a peregrine, manages to find her. The moment When Filocolo finds Biancifiore in a
tower where he can't get in, seems the beginning of the tragedy because the two lovers risk being
condemned to the stake. There is a plot twist: the admiral who held Biancifiore is Florio's uncle.
Eventually manage to get married because it turns out that she too is of a high social class. In the
end, Florio, a young pagan, converts to Christianity and his population will do the same.
There is an important scene: during the journey in search of his beloved, the group, because of a
storm had to stop in Naples. They are welcomed by some young aristocrats and together they play a
game of "questioni d’amore" in a garden. The aristocratic game seems to anticipate the literary
strategy adopted in the Decameron.
Filocolo is a novel that develops the story in a double initiation:
1. that of Florio, who begins the adventure that becomes a quete (it looks like a religious quete)
2. that of the writer, because the itinerary of the novel is also an itinerary of literary growth.
A characteristic of the structure of the text is that the anticipations and recapitulations are equated to
the realization of events.
The story is known as the Conte di Floire et Blancheflor and as Florio and Biancifiore. For
Boccaccio it becomes just Filocolo. From here we can understand that:

 the only figure worthy of giving the title to the work is that of Florio
 Florio becomes the protagonist the moment he changes his name to Filocolo and begins his
adventure.
Boccaccio's ambition is to unify two poles: to integrate narrative invention with knowledge. He
wants to unite two audiences that have been clearly separated up to that time: the ducts and the
women.

IL FILOSTRATO
After writing the prose novel, Boccaccio tells a new story, this time in verse. The Filostrato, was
written in 1339. The work opens with a letter sent by the poet to Filomena, whose means "loved".
This must be identified as a woman whose name is "full grace" -> Giovanna ("domains gratia" ->
"Grace of the Lord"). This letter reveals that will talk about "questioni d’amore" as in the Filocolo.
Boccaccio starts looking for an ancient history that would better fit to represent his condition. He
eventually chose the love story between Troiolo and Criseida, which belongs to the time of the
Trojan War. The Filostrato is divided in 9 parts.
Plot: we are during the Trojan War, where Criselda lives, daughter of a soothsayer. He prophesies,
the defeat of the Trojans, and so decides to escape from the city and seek refuge to the Greeks. One
of Priamo's sons, Troiolo, falls in love with Criselda. The two are separated after a meeting. This is
where the drama of separation begins for Troiolo. Diomede falls in love with Criselda and the
remoteness torments Troiolo. Troiolo dreams of the betrayal of the woman. To confirm he sees the
gold clip she had given her, on a dress that on her brother had tear off of Diomedes cloths during
the battle. Troiolo is desperate and wants revenge, so he goes to the battlefield. Eventually Trioiolo
is killed by Achille.
The tragic fate seems as inscribed in the fate of Troiolo (according to the ethological decomposition
of the Greek name Filostrato means "il vinto d’amore"). Troiolo is a victim of love sickness. He is a
man who uses weapons that, after knowing love, seems to become dominated by sentimental
suffering. Troiolo's predominant presence is more in the bedroom than on the battlefield, where
men should demonstrate one's heroic virtues. Troiolo looks more like a love singer than a warrior.
On the contrary, the beloved woman, Criselda, moves with ease and breeziness. It is evident that the
impulses of desire prevail over the weak, almost non-existent resistances of modesty.
In the Filostrato, the distance of the beloved woman had pushed the writer to manifest his pain and
suffering through the figure of Troiolo, abandoned by Criselda.
IL TESEIDA
Boccaccio's last work before leaving Naples, begins with a letter of dedication explicitly addressed
"a Fiammetta".
In Teseida, the poet's affliction arises from the realization of a radical change in the disposition of
his woman towards him. The last thing the lover can do to try to contrast the woman's rejection is a
literary paper. The woman likes love stories, so he starts telling in vulgar Latin and rhymes. Even in
this new poem there are similarities with the experience of love towards Fiammetta. Boccaccio
wants to inaugurate with Teseida a new genre in literature in vulgar. For this reason, there are
references to authors like Virgil and Stazio: the title follows title as Eneide and Tebaide, and also
the division of the poem into twelve books.

Plot: The first two books tell the feats of Teseo, Duke of Athens, who organizes an expedition
against the Amazons, which are defeated. The two groups make a deal: the queen of the Amazons,
Ippolita, will marry the winning king. Teseo returns to Athens with Ippolita and her sister Emilia.
Teseo starts a new battle: he defeats King Creon and takes him and his grandchildren as prisoner:
Arcita and Palemone. They both fall in love with Emilia. Thanks to the help of a friend Arcita
manages to free himself but has to leave Athens (this causes him a lot of pain). Driven by love, he
returns to Athens under a false name and is welcomed into the court of Teseo. Arcita is recognized
by a servant of Palemone who gets jealous. With a trick, the servant takes Palemone's place in
prison. Palemone and Arcita meet in the woods and clash in duel and the winner would have
married Emilia. Arcita is mortally wounded, but still marries Emilia. Before he dies, he allows
Emilia to remarry the loser Palemone.
After the first two songs, Teseo becomes a secondary character. The literary model of reference is
in love poetry, and not in epic poetry. She manages to marry Emilia. In addition, he strengthens his
nobility as a knight with an act of magnanimity that respects the love ethic: Arcita promises Emilia
to Palemone, who was sure she loved her.

The conclusion of the story is influential on the choice of the title of the poem. The title has the
function of a warning to the reader because it indicates the true subject of the work that is love, the
authentic one.
CHAPTER 2: THE RETURN TO FLORENCE
1. THE PROSIMETRUM AND THE ALLEGORICAL POEMS
LA COMEDIA DELLE NINFE
In 1340-42, Boccaccio left Naples to return to Florence. This transfer causes two different effects in
Boccaccio:
- on a sentimental level, he is afflicted by the present and is nostalgic for the past;
- at the literary level, seeks to assimilate and rework the cultural instances of Florentine
culture/civilization on its own
The work that represents this polarity is his first Florentine work: Comedia delle Ninfe. (1341-42),
also known as Ninfale d’Ameto. It is a prosimetrum (mixed of prose and poetry), where Boccaccio
tries to follow at least a little the formal and thematic characteristics dominant in Tuscan literature
between the 13th and 14th centuries. In this work there are references to Dante:
- the use of the triplets in the poetry parts
- the development of the central motif of the prosimetrum -> the potential for inner
refinement belonging to the experience of love.
Plot: this is the story of a boor shepherd, Ameto, who met 7 nymphs that represented virtues.
Thanks to this encounter he is led to complete humanity, being able to reach the maximum spiritual
happiness (divine contemplation). The seven nymphs introduce themself and then they tell the
stories of their loves.
In the prosimetrum we find ambiguity: it is the story of an ethical and spiritual education with the
addition of the seduction of feminine beauty and erotic events. Only when Ameto makes a
retrospective assessment can he understand the deep meaning of the adventure he has experienced
(in the metamorphosis in a transit from the senses to reason). In this period, Boccaccio abandoned
the narrative theme that had characterized the Neapolitan works and developed moral and spiritual
interests, representing them in an allegorical key.
In this work there is an exceptional spectator, hidden in the bushes, who is the testimony of Ameto's
prodigious transformation: it is Boccaccio itself. It seems that Boccaccio is envious of Ameto and is
holding back in going out and joining the nymphs. Envy is caused by the pretty place where Ameto
lives, surrounded by nymphs compared to the bleak family structure in which Boccaccio lives. The
reality of Boccaccio is manifested in the conclusion of the Ameto: there is a strong sense of
negativity with the reference to the father figure: all the causes of negativity of the writer are
projected on Boccaccino (there is also the desire to die). The title of the work suggests to us that it
is a comedy: the narrative begins in a difficult situation and then ends well -> Ameto starts from a
rough situation and finally accesses to the human positivity and spiritual bliss. In the work there are
two interventions of the author:
1. in the opening chapter, the author is present by calling himself "not poet, but rather lover".
2. in the final part, there is a confession of a condition of sadness.
L’AMOROSA VISIONE
Boccaccio writes another allegorical work that is a poem written entirely in verse, where the meter
is used. The opera consists of 50 songs.
Plot: The protagonist has been struck by Cupid's love arrows for Fiammetta and falls asleep. He
dreams of going to deserted places when he meets a woman who invites him to follow him. She
leads him to a castle that has two doors: the one on the right is small and narrow and leads to virtue,
while the one on the left is large and wide and promises wealth and worldly glory.
The poet admires a wall where Wisdom and the seven liberal arts are painted with the most
illustrious followers.
The second wall features the fresco of the triumphal chariot of the worldly Gloria.
On the third wall there are the figurations of characters tarnished by greed (greed, lust for wealth).
Among these people there is also Boccaccino.
Unlike in previous works (where the author projected himself into one of the characters (Filostrato,
Filocolo, Teseida) or placed himself on the margins of the scene as a spectator (Caccia di Diana,
Comedia delle Ninfe fiorentine), in this case he enters directly as a character. He becomes the
character-poet and he becomes protagonist (as happens with Dante in the Divine Comedy).
Boccaccio is more inclined to Humanism than to the past. This is evident in the way of evaluating
illustrious characters. a criterion of judgment is imposed that affects the arrangement of the images
and the structure of the poem itself. The painted figures on the walls form a gallery.
In the work there is an interest in the worldly experience of man, leaving marginal the worry for his
otherworldly destiny. The poem does not look at the supernatural but focuses on the values and
rules that characterize human life.

2. THE STORY OF THE PASSION OF LOVE: L’ELEGIA DI MADONNA FIAMMETTA

We return to the theme of love and the dominant present of the figure of Fiammetta. Boccaccio
wrote the opera in 1343-44 where the protagonist recounts his love sorrows assuming the
appearance of a heroine of classical antiquity.
This text is a narrative prose where Fiammetta addresses an audience of women in love to tell the
story of her extramarital love for Panfilo: the encounter, the happiness of the love reciprocated, the
sadness for the estrangement from Panfilo, the failure to promise her return, the jealousy of the false
news of Panfilo's marriage, the suicide attempt after receiving the real news that the young man has
a new love, the illusion of a possible return.
There is an innovation in the resumption of the emotional and literary myth: the innovation is that
autobiography is not objectified in one or more characters of the narrative but is poured out the
character who speaks in the first person. The author separates himself from the narrator, from the
narrating voice that is that of Fiammetta. Boccaccio uses the beloved woman to represent him.
According to the teaching of Ovid in the letters it is appropriate to exchange roles. The protagonist
of the work assumes the role of autonomous character who analyses her feelings and her own
reactions, it is not only the reflection of man's love. As for Dante, Boccaccio also emphasizes the
need for compassion in the development of the narrative.
The character Fiametta is constantly guarded by the narrator Fiammetta. At the end of the story, the
metaliterary presence of the protagonist re-emerges in a clear way and a specific worry is evident:
that of emphasizing the truth of the story. Then Fiammetta places a distinction of intensity between
existential experience and artistic experience. In the book's conclusion, he highlights the two poles
on which the Elegia is based: the experience/past and literature.

3. METAMORPHOSIS AND CIVILIZATION: THE NINFALE FIESOLANO

This is the last work Boccaccio wrote before the Decameron (1344-45). The author says that a very
old love story will be told.

Plot: At that time Diana reigned imposing her laws on chastity on nymphs. One day during a
meeting of the nymphs, also assists a shepherd, Africo, who notices the beauty of the young
Mensola. Africo find himself between hope and melancholy, provoked by the maturating of love.
Venus, Diana's great enemy, intervenes and encourage him to go looking for Mensola. Venus
suggests that he has to dress up as a woman to not scare the nymphs. He is welcomed among the
nymphs and after a hunting trip they all bathe naked in the stream. When Africo undresses all the
nymphs run away. The young man grabs Mensola. Later she manages to reach the other nymphs.
Africo is destroyed by pain and decides to kill himself in the same stream where the first meeting
took place. Mensola knows that she hasn’t respected Diana's will: the young woman is pregnant.
Diana gets angry and casts a curse on Mensola that turns her into the river that will take her name.
The affair does not end with Diana's vengeance on Mensola. His son is called Pruneo and becomes
the founder of Fiesole. for the prosperity of the city promotes a type of civil coexistence, where the
inhuman laws imposed by Diana were banned. From the myth we move on to history. History
means civilization process guaranteed by the promotion of new laws: no to Diana's inhuman laws
and no to the laws of Venus' sexual urges. A compromise is made between the two: it is precisely
the compromise that tones down the exaggeration of the eros that solves the problem of amorous
tensions.
This work is considered as an etiological poem and constitutes the creative crowning achievement
of the commitment to attention and reflection on myth and its tradition. Another time Boccaccio
presents the Diana-Venus contrast.
CHAPTER 3: DECAMERON
1. THE TITLE AND THE NOVELLA
Between 1349 and 1351 Boccaccio wrote his masterpiece: a book of a hundred novels. Initially he
composed the work driven by a dramatic historical fact -> the black plague that affects much of
Europe and which was devastating for Florence.
The work begins with this sentence: “Comincia il libro chiamato Decameron, cognominato
principe Gelotto, nel quale si contengono cento novelle in diece dì dette da sette donne e da tre
giovani uomini”. The subtitle of the work is Galeotto. With this it seems that the writer maliciously
wants to delegate to the book of novels the same role of “mezzano” (pimp) assumed by Galeotto
against Lancelot and Geneva.
In this work, too, the availability towards women is confirmed. This fact highlights the philogen’s
attitude that is a constant in Boccaccio’s works. The task of narratives is to console and teach, to
entertain and to educate.

2. THE PLAGUE AND L’”ONESTA BRIGATA”

In the Proemio, in the Introduction to the first day (which is actually the full text introduction) there
is the description of the plague of 1348 that strikes Florence.
From the beginning we can recognize the author, Boccaccio himself who is the voice of Proemio,
and the narrator Boccaccio who has the task of telling what happens in the times outside the
narrative of the novels. A third narrative voices is that of the individual novelists. The introduction
is based on a catastrophic event experienced first hand by Boccaccio with bereavements in the
family.
At the beginning of the Decameron, Boccaccio admits that he had to start his narrative by talking
about the infernal condition of Florence because of the plague. Only from this event can he justify
the entry into the scene of the brigata of the ten young people who decide to leave the city. The
image of a world in destruction is contrasted with the image of a world that is saved. The ten young
people are a homogeneous group of age and aristocratic education (unlike in Goeffrey Chaucer's
Cantebury's Tales). The brigata of seven women and three young men meets at Santa Maria
Novella. For the group, the reason is the regulatory method of the brigata and honesty is the ethical
principle of behavior. It is for this reason that the group is named by the author with the highly
qualified syntagma of "onesta brigata".
As soon as they arrive in what will be their first home outside Florence, they made some decisions
to make have an acceptable and pleasant cohabitation. In order to strengthen peaceful coexistence,
young people decide to put the “raccontare” telling story, the “novellare”, at the centre of the
relationship. Everyone agrees to tell novels mainly for two reasons:
- because the narrative ludus compared to the game, does not presuppose a competition
 - because the narrative ludus is not a frontal race between two racers but it is a collective
pleasure.
Pampinea, proposes to elect a regent in turn for each day. The garden becomes the place where the
novels are told. The names of the members of the brigata, are names that belong to the narrative and
poetic memory of Boccaccio. The names of the women are:
- Fiammetta, the woman loved by the poet and the protagonist of Elegia
- Pampinea was present in the Ameto
- Filomena had been addressed the letter of dedication of the Filostrato
- Emilia remembers the protagonist of the Teseida
- Elissa connects to Virgil's Didone
- Lauretta alludes to the woman loved by her friend Petrarca
- Neifile, that means "new lover" and perhaps recalls Beatrice of Vita Nuova of Dante.
The names of the men are:
- Panfilo that connects to the male protagonist of the Elegia di Madonna Fiammetta
- Filostrato who gives the title to the poem that tells of the unhappy love story of Troiolo and
Criseida
- Dioneo is one of the protagonists of the Ameto.

3. THE PLOT OF THE DECAMERON

The interventions of the ten novelists during the ten days (in total they stayed 15 days outside
Florence), constitute the frame and the plot of the Decameron.
Day 1 -> the queen is Pampinea. The topic of the day is: “di quello che più aggrade a ciascheduno”
It allows newbies to choose each one what to tell. The first three novels of the day deal with thorny
topics of a theological and religious nature (ES: the novella of Ser Cepparello).
Day 2 -> the queen is Filomena. The topic of the day: “chi, da diverse cose infestato, sia oltre alla
sua speranza riuscito a lieto fine”. The stories told are moved by the unpredictable management of
luck (ES: happy ending of Andreuccio from Perugia).
Day 3 -> the queen is Neifile. The topic of the day is: “si ragiona di chi alcuna cosa molto da lui
disiderata con industria acquistasse o la perduta ricoverasse”. Here the adventurous of fortune gives
way to the initiative of human ingenuity. (ES: the novella of Masetto da Lamporecchio, the novella
of frate Puccio, the novella of Alibech).
There is a clear separation between day 3 and day 4. The new decade narrative is preceded by an
intervention by the author who in person defends the thirty previous novels from the criticisms that
had been made by those who had come to know it and had pointed the finger at Boccaccio's easy
willingness to please the women.
The day 4 and day 5 form a diptych.
Day 4 -> the king is Philostrate. The topic of the day is: "si ragiona di coloro in cui amori ebbero
infelice fine". (ES: Ghismunda's tragic love for the young Guiscardo and the pathetic and poignant
love of Lisabetta da Messina)
Day 5 -> the queen is Flame. The topic of the day is : "ciò che ad alcuno amante, dopo alcuni fieri o
sventurati accidenti, felicemente avvenisse". (ES: the love with happy ending of Nastagio degli
Onesti e di Federigo degli Alberghi).
Day 6 -> the queen is Elissa. The topic of the day is: "si ragiona di chi con alcun leggiadro motto,
tentato, si riscotesse, o con pronta risposta o avedimento fuggi perdita o pericolo o scorno". It's
about those who know how to escape an embarrassing situation with a happy joke. (ES: as happens
to the cook Chichibio or to Guido Cavalcanti).
The day 7 and day 8 have differences even if both are dedicated to mockery/joke. The diversity is in
the way of using the mockery:
- the mockery aimed at practical and advantageous purposes
- the mockery as an exercise in gratuitous and amused malice.
Day 7 -> the king is Dioneo. The topic of the day is: "si ragiona delle beffe, le quali per amore o per
salvamento di loro le donne hanno già fatte a’ suoi mariti". The protagonist of deceit are more
“malmaritate”, that means young women dissatisfied with their marriage: a love triangle is created
that ends with the erotic satisfaction of the woman and the strengthening of the public image of an
honest female.
Day 8 -> the queen is Lauretta. The topic of the day is: "di quelle beffe che tutto il giorno o donna a
uomo o uomo a donna o l’uno all’altro si fanno". In this case there are “beffe e controbeffe”. (ES:
the relationship between the widow Elena and the schoolboy Rinieri (novel 7) and the mocking
artists Bruno and Buffalmacco).
Day 9 -> the queen is Emilia. The topic of the day is: "si ragiona ciascuno secondo che gli piace e
di quello che più gli agrada". The two days dedicated to the mockery were not enough to tell all the
stories of the novelists. So reappear figure already known on day 9. (ES: Bruno and Beuffalmacco).
Day 10 -> the king is Panfilo. The topic of the day is: "di chi liberalmente o vero magnificamente
alcuna cosa operasse intorno a’ fatti d’amore o d’altra cosa". The narrators begin a kind of game, in
which everyone tries to overcome those who preceded it (in an act of magnanimity). (ES: the
extraordinary act of Torello).
The last novel of the day and the final novella de Decameron is the novella of Griselda that has as a
protagonist the Marquis of Saluzzo who with extreme provocations tests the patience of the young
woman, his wife.

4. SUMMETRY AND INTERNAL RELATIONS

In addition to horizontal reading, day after day, the Decameron requires a more sophisticated
reading suitable to converge interest in complex connections and internal referencessuita. We can
distinguish "cross-connections", "close connections", and "distance connections".
Cross-connections: cross-connections are those related with the novels who occupy the same
position in the order of the narrative, even if on different days or those that make system within the
same day (or different days).
ES 1: the connection between the first two days, which is the topic that is distributed in descending
order. The topic is always religious.
- At the beginning, appears ser Ciappelletto who is defined as the worst man who ever
existed, that before his death, confesses. The sinner will be celebrated as a saint after his
death.
- In the second novel, the protagonist Abraam is a Jew who converts to Christianity after
being in Rome to see the Pope.
- In the third novel, there is Melchisedech, a Jewish who manages to get out of the trap set by
Saladin by telling the novel of the three rings.
The novels 1 and 2 of the second day also have religion as their theme.
- The novella 1 reverses the situation of I 1 -> in that novel ser Ciappelletto was the false saint
who operated real miracles, instead in this novella the protagonist St. Arrigo is a saint who
operates a false miracle of the healing of Martellino, who had pretended to be cripple.
- in the second novel, an act of religious devotion recited by Rinaldo d'Asti that allows him to
find hospitality at the end of various misadventures

ES 2: There are also some novels of the third day that have a connection. The day is opened and
closed by two of the novels considered among the most"obscene". Both deal with the theme of
female insatiability, and both use an erotic metaphor (novella 1:"lavorare l'orto"/novella 10: "il
diavolo in Inferno").
In addition to this connection for the presence or hint of the three otherworldly kingdoms, in the day
3 we find another one between the novella 4, 8 and 10.
- The hell appears in III 10 as a metaphorical translated to indicate the best place to serve
God.
- The purgatory appears in III 8, when a cunning abbot cures Ferondo's jealousy by falling
asleep and making him believe he is in purgatory.
- The heaven appears in III 4, when Don Felice suggests to Isabella's husband a severe
penance to enter in paradise.

Close connections
Distance connections
ES 1: The two free-themed days, the I and IX, contain two novels (4 ,2) that reveal some
connection. In I 4 there is the abbot, while in IX 2 there is the abbess, who are surprised in flagrant
erotic sin within their convent. The same issue is addressed once in a male key and then in a
feminine key.

ES 2: We also find a connection between the VII 2 and IX 10. These two novels are united by two
factors: on the poverty of both families and on the erotic nature with opposite outcomes: full
satisfaction for the first one and not-satisfaction for the second.

ES 3: Another connection is that between IV 1 and V 4, where a love between young people has on
the one hand a tragic end and on the other a marriage.
- In the IV 1, the Prince Tancredi discovers his daughter embraced in Guiscardo. he decides
not to act immediately, but later he will kill him and tear his heart out.
- something similar happens in V 4. Caterina's father discovers it with Ricciardo after making
love.
Unlike Guiscardo that was killed, Ricciardo will not be punished.

ES 4: we find a kind of remake in VIII 10 compared to II 5. The setting is the same: a seaside town
in the South (Napoli for the novella of Andreuccio and Palermo for the novella of Salabaetto). It is
also similar to the representation of the merchant world.

ES 5: The character Calandrino is present in four novels -> in the novels 4 and 6 of the 8 day and in
the novels 3 and 5 of the 9 day.

5. LOVE AND MONEY

Love ->
ES 1: Let's look at some amorous situations. For example, love as a destructive force, so much so
that it became a tragedy as in the case of Ghismonda.

ES 2: Another manifestation of love is that of the character (Federigo degli Alberghi) who makes
the journey of courtly love to the marriage pact.

ES 3: Love is represented as an erotic push of youth, as in the novella of Ricciardo and Caterina,
known as the "novel of the nightingale".
ES 4: the meaning of love as a satisfaction of the senses even for the religious like the abbot and the
abbess.

The topic of love is also important to determine the appearance and personality of female figures. In
the Decameron we meet:
- passive women such as Alatiel (II 7) and Griselda (X 10)
- shrewd women, who take initiative like Peronella (VII 2)
- women who claim the right of their femininity also in terms of sexual contentment.

Money ->
Another recurring topic in the Decameron is that of money and therefore the author's constant
attention to the mercantile world. In fact the author pauses on the pitfalls related to merchant
activity as in the novella of Andreuccio da Perugia (he who after the initial mistake of showing the
money, thanks to the favorable wind of fortune is rewarded). In the Decameron, Boccaccio rewards
readiness, cunning and ingenuity. He does not agree with the risk-based entrepreneurial spirit. The
writer is sarcastic towards the merchant who approaches the higher social classes, trying to ennoble
himself through marriage (ES: Arriguccio Berlingheri).
The topic of money doesn’t remain limited only to the merchant sphere.
- Money is also related to religion (ES: the economic and non-erotic purposes of Frail
Cipolla).
- Money is also linked to the theme of eros. Boccaccio is against love for money.

Boccaccio is in favor of women who betray their husbands because they are driven by desire and
passion. ES: an important novel is VI 7 -> the protagonist is Madonna Filippa who after committing
adultery is discovered, she escapes the trial, knowing she was going to be sentenced to death.
Thanks to her innate availability, she talks to the judge. Filippa is very interested in her legal
problem, so much so that she will manage the trial herself: she makes her husband Rinaldo testify
that she never denied herself to him. She finally asks a resolute question by asking what she should
have done after her husband had taken what he wanted from her.

6. THE BODY
There is an original element that is valued in the Decameron: the body. In the introduction it is
evident the dismay of the author seeing the infirmities and the disintegration caused by the plague.
In the following novels will also be made unpleasant descriptions on the body:
- in II 1 with the crippled body of a Martello
 - in II 6 with the description of the pitiful condition of Madonna Beritola.
Much of the love theme developed in novels is related to the bodily entity. Corporeity and eroticism
are connected in mischievous novelties. Sometimes the body is the only trait that determines the
character's appearance and his actions, as in the case of Alatiel. In fact, the novel II 7 the
protagonist Alatiel represents the prototype of the persecuted girl, victim of her own beauty. It is as
if woman were transformed into a pure object of desire, an erotic object.
The body theme also stands out in some tragic circumstances in which it is a part of the body of the
beloved to act in a metonimic key. Es:
- in the novel IV 1, 5, 9 which the protagonists are Ghismunda, Lisabetta da Messina and
William da Rossiglione.
In all three circumstances the figure of the killed lover is replaced in the metonimic function of the
torn heart or head detached from the body and kept hidden in a basil vase.
Male figures are also linked to bodily aspects. The description of the male and female human body,
that of Rustico and Alibech, unleashes in a comic effect for the sequence of metaphors, a mixture
between sacred and obscene.
We also find a description of Andreuccio: the dangling legs, the fall in the courtyard/walkway.
In the day 9, mockery, resentment and forms of aggression have obvious repercussions even on a
physical level. (ES: novel 5 with the comic effect of Calandrino that is hairless and scratched and in
novella 4 with Anguilieri that is leaved just with a shirt and barefoot). In the last novel of the day 9,
the theme of the obscene is recalled. In this novel, we talk about the physical violence by donno
Giovanni against Gemmata.

7. THE WORDS AND THE SILENCE

Words:
In the novels of the Decameron we find internal transformations due to incentive of various forces.
In the novel that tells Dioneo at the end the day 9 there is a metamorphosis (of the woman in a
horse). In this novella, there isn’t the realization of the usual trajectory of the decameronian novels,
but we return to the starting point: the priest does not reach complete sexual satisfaction. The novel
denies the transformation an event. Someone thinks that the Dioneo’s novella is a non-novella.
Boccaccio dedicates the day 6 to the word, to the word concentrated in the "motto". From the
beginning we see how the mottos are better connected with women than with men (ES: the
interference of Madonna Oretta where responds to the discomfort of the knight's tale, highlights
how the motto is more pertinent if the speaker aligns with the modalities of those who provoked his
intervention).
The enormous potential of the word are also developped in other circumstances where they become
decisive tools for the transformation and modification of an event. Es:
 - the novella I 1 of Ser Ciappelletto. Boccaccio presents him with a detailed description
highlighting the appearance of the person.
He minimizes what is serious and emphasizes what is irrelevant.
The word overturns reality, also overturns the fate of Ciappelletto who will be revered as a saint. A
character similar to him is frate Cipolla (VI 10) because they both gain the maximum advantage in
the unscrupulous use of the word. He, for example, manages to change an unfavourable situation
and change it to his advantage. His speech is a succession of hyperbole, antiphrases, alliterations,
assonances and worldplays.
ES: In the novel III 5, the protagonist Zima had fallen in love with messer's wife Franscesco
Vergellesi. He thinks he's going to profit from a favorable situation in order to meet the woman.
The husband finds a weakness in Zima's request to speak with his wife: the pact does not require
her to respond. This is where Zima's extraordinary performance comes from: he in a certain sense
splits up and gives voice to himself and to the woman. Zima thanks to a refined use of the word
manages to conquer his beloved.

Silence:
The happy ending in Zima comes from a mix of word and silence. Silence is the opposite of the
word that also affects the development of the plot (ES: the silence of Masetto da Lampeocchio).

ES 1: In the novel III 2, the Longobard king's groom chases his love, which is impossible. He
manages to sneak into the room of the woman disguised as the king. The woman's words reveal the
betrayal to the king. The king goes to the servants' room and notices that a man has a heart with
accelerated beats. He understands that he was the guilty of the betrayal and decides to cut his hair so
that he can recognize him the next day. The cunning young man decides to cut all his companions'
hair. There is like a competition of cunning and the competition in knowing how to communicate
with external signals and not with the word.

ES 2: Silence is also one of the key components in the III 3. Here a woman shows her love for a
man through an oblique communication with a fray, friend of the young man. All this happens
without the knowledge of the fray, who does his duty.

8. THE REALISM, L’ONIRICO E IL MERAVIGLIOSO

Filomena tells the novel III 3 and introduces the narrative in an unusual way: unlike the habits of
the brigata, he declares the precise desire not to make public the name or house of the protagonists.
The choice made by Filomena confirms Boccaccio's shift towards the novelistic narrative of modern
approach, based on realism. Realism means to name the characters of the individual narratives on
time. Boccaccio, what do you mean by realism? First of all, it means a need for historical and
geographical verisimilitude. Boccaccio chooses for his novel protagonists who belong to different
classes and social classes, which brings an innovation. We speak of realism because the novels have
a mixture of realistic and historically precise elements. Very often these elements in the novella mix
with more strange and inaccurate elements. And this is where you have the verisimilitude, central
point of all the poetics of the Boccaccio.
The novella of Andreuccio da Perugia also has traits of realism, in the city map and in the name of
the characters. Another truly historical figure who really existed is Archbishop Filippo Minutolo in
whose tomb Andreuccio will find despair and salvation. Along with the characters, the places also
represent a concrete reality: for example, the Cathedral where the tomb of the archbishop is located
and Malpertugio, the city where Andreuccio comes from.
- The reputation of citizens of that says that they are proverbially prone to homosexuality
seems to suggest the setting of the V 10 in Perugia, where the protagonist is Pietro da
Vinciolo.
- In the novel VI 9 Guido Cavalcanti travels a Florentine route: Orto San Michele, fino a San
Giovanni).

There are continuous references to geographical data and historical data related to territories
certainly known by Boccaccio: Ischia, Procida, the Arab-Norman building of Palermo. In addition,
there are also reference to territories related to figures directly known by Boccaccio or known for
fame: Frederico II of Aragon, Gianni da Procida).
In the novel V 6, Boccaccio recalls the episode of lovers united at the stake already present in the
Filocolo.

We don’t have a clear definition of what realism is for Boccaccio. To build a definition, we use as
references the clues left in his masterpiece. Useful for this purpose, is the way Giotto is presented in
novel VI 5. Giotto's portrait can also be read as a form of reflection of the author. From here we get
a declaration of poetics that is at the center of rhe Realism of Boccaccio: it is not mimesis that
satisfies an external and superficial delight, but it is the formal and stylistic realization of the
figurative arts or the arts of writing, proposing a notion of realism that does not coincide with true
return.

9. THE SOURCES: THE USE AND THE REWRITE

Boccaccio consults numerous texts to compose the Decameron. Boccaccio takes his cue from the
Novellino to add the novel of the ducks told in first person in the Introduction to the fourth day. The
author also refers to the Novellino for two novels of the first day:
- the third, that of the three rings that represented the three main religions (Catholic, Hebrew
and Muslim)
 - the ninth where the woman of Guascogna that stigmatizes the cowardly behaviour of the
king.
For some novels also gains from Apuleio:
- for the central part of the novella of Pietro di Vinciolo (V 10)
- For Peronella's novella (VII 2)

10. FOR A THEORY OF THE “NOVELLA”

LA “NOVELLETTA DELLE PAPERE”
In the Proemio, Boccaccio defines his stories with the word "novella". From the Introduzione to the
fourth day, there are some indications and suggestions regarding this genre. 30 novels have already
been told and these 30 novels have been heard and judged, not only by the novelists but also by
other people. The novels have been spread and have provoked much criticism for contents
considered unscrupulous.
Boccaccio takes the floor and defends the 30 novels just told. The novels had been criticized more
for Boccaccio's easy willingness to please women. Boccaccio trust in the art of storytelling to
defends himself. He doesn’t use a theoretically solid reply to defend himself. He decides to tell a
novella, "the novel of the ducks". This is a novella told directly by Boccaccio without the mediation
of the brigata. The novel has a comic background, when the father defines the female figures as
ducks. The choice of this term, in opposition to the previous "demons" is explained by the desire to
trigger a comic dialogue.
Filippo Balducci is an authoritarian and repressive father who wants to inhibit instinct and vocation.
This story is very similar to that experienced by Boccaccio himself: his literary vocation has been
jeopardized by legal studies.

LA NOVELLA DI MADONNA ORETTA

Boccaccio uses a novella to indicate the peculiar formal components, where the novella is an
exemplary genre model of a new literature that wants to enhance the natural and sensitive impulses
to gratify women.
The novel VI 1 offers the reader a report such as the characterization of the protagonist with a
conventional formula, but effective because his "well-talking" is relevant for the solution of the
novel. The knight tells Oretta that it will make the path he has to take less heavy. The knight will
not change the condition of the woman, from pedestrian to a woman sitting on a horse. He promises
the woman that the effort of the journey will seem less heavy because she will be alleviated by her
company and her story. The knight is committed to the maximum. He chooses a story that is not
expected and very interesting. In this case, however, at the exceptionality the inventio doesn’t
correspond a correlative skill in the dispositio and in the elocutio. The knight is not gifted with
expressive abilities, does not follow an order in telling events and is confused in fixing the identity
of the characters. The result is negative, and he created a suffering rather than relief in the woman
who listened to him. Confirming this there are the obvious psychosomatic confirmation of the
woman's discomfort, which results in physical suffering.
The decisive turning point will be given by Madonna Oretta who at the critical moment relies on the
effectiveness of a motto: it takes up the metaphor "equine" of the knight, to send a message to the
knight. The woman does this to alleviate her suffering and to remove from embarrassment the
knight who was in serious trouble. The knight is a bad novelist but a very good connoisseur, and in
fact stop telling the novella.
This novel makes you understand how a story should be told and is instructive for two reasons:
1- reports that telling stories aims to spark pleasure
2- signals that pleasure is achieved through the form of the story and not the subject (no matter
what is told but how it is told).
This novel is also important for the role it plays within the Decameron: it is the fifty-first novel in
the book composed of a hundred novels -> so we're right in the middle of the Decameron. The
brigata is the first one that can take advantage of what has been told in the novella of Madonna
Oretta. This is the novel with the greatest metanarrative responsibility.

THE SIZE OF THE NOVELS AND THE RUBRICHE

Some clues to better understand the meanings of novella are also given to us by the passages, the
novelistic places and the places of the frame of the Decameron. An important aspect is the size of
the novel, its length or brevity. A first and important information on the subject comes from the
reflection on the novelistic subgenre called motto. Almost the same are the two formulations:
- that of Pampinea (I 10)
- that of Filomena (VI 1).
On the day 6 it is highlight that miss the taste for motto because of the wickedness of our ingenuity.
The mottos are characterized by particular qualities that act positively in the human society. the
mottos are extremely suitable for women as a speaker. Brevity is also favourable for readers.
Between brevity and length, there are the poles of the novella od Boccaccio. There are differences
in size between novels:
- the shortest one is the novella I 9 (King of Cipri and the woman of Guscogna)
- the longest one is the novel 8th (the widow and the schoolboy)
Novels have playful and pedagogical purposes.
Boccaccio's ambition is to also include male audiences through the address to women. In the
introduction to the day 6 there is a querrel between the servants Licisca and Tindaro, where she
speaks in an unscrupulous and aggressive way giving a lesson to men and a clue to the female
availability that they do not always perceive.
So what is the novella for Boccaccio? It is probably that narrative text that in its formal dimension
accepts brevity and length. Changeability (brevity/length, delight/teaching) is the basis of the novel
genre. At the beginning of the Decameron, Boccaccio uses the terms "novella, o favole, o parabole
o istorie" while in the final part he uses only the term "novella" (this emphasizes the differentiation
that makes Boccaccio between novella and istorie that is precisely of the ecclesiastical environment
and therefore not suitable for this environment).
The rubriche are written in the first person and have an authorial role. After the long narrative
adventure of the Decameron, Boccaccio writes a hundred introductory rubriche for each novel, in
addition to Proemio, Introduction to the fourth day and Conclusion of the author. The rubriche pass
only from the author to the reader without them being known by the novelists. These rubriche give
us the primary information and are a tool for interpreting the text, according to the author's point of
view.
ES 1: in the first introductory column of the first novel, there is a balance of a chiasm that places ser
Cepparello and San Ciappelletto at the extremes and inserts the capsizing of reality with the
juxtaposition of him who was a bad man in life but after was considered a saint.
ES 2: the rubrica of the novella by Andreuccio da Perugia gives advance notice of the misfortunes
of the protagonist.
ES 3: the rubrica of the last novella of the last day suggests that the novella is not so much the
novella of Griselda but more that of the first person mentioned in the rubrica: the Marquis of
Sanluzzo.
ES 4: It is surprising how in the rubrica of the V 4, the novella of the nightingale, we have the
change from the real value to metaphorical value of the term nightingale going forward with the
plot.

11. THE CONCLUSION OF THE NOVELS AND THE RETURN OF THE BRIGATA TO
FLORENCE
The Author's Conclusion is the symmetrical pillar to Proemio, on which the entire Decameron is
based. The"conclusion" of the novels is the last novella to be told, the X 10, the novella of the
Marquis de Saluzzo and Griselda. Dioneo is considered the transgressive among novelists. On many
occasions it prefigures continuity and difference from the thematic rule of the day:
- continuity is in talking about a character of noble origins, in line with the predominant social
status of the protagonists of the day;
- the difference is to say one negative thing about the character: the Marquis' unmotivated
violence against Griselda.
At the end of the novel, Dioneo asks questions to which he answers. To conclude his speech,
Dioneo adopts a questioning mode, unusual for novels.
The brigata decides to return to Florence with a deliberation worrying for the reader since in the 15
days away from the city, the plague has certainly not stopped. Why does the brigata unanimously
decide to return to Florence? In the words of Panfilo, who is the king of the last day may depend on
the fear that someone had something to say about their absence or the danger of contamination with
other brigades. Among all the brigate that formed that of the Decameron acquired a criterion of
rational order that led them to conquer the only real and paradoxical victory they could have: that
they had learned to accept the world and their destiny. The basis of the decision to stop the
novelistic game and return to Florence, can be seen in the introduction to the day 9, where we find a
serene and fascinating landscape description.
From the first day, a laurel wreath had adorned the brows of the novelists. The crown was one that
passed every day to another member of the brigade when they are elected as king or queen.
In the debut of the day 9 we notice two things:
- the crown is of oak fronds
- the crowns are ten and all ten wear it
The oak is in symbolism a plant that represents strength and wisdom. The sapientia and fortitudo
seem to be the aims achieved by the brigata.
The company of the ten young people becomes perfect, and they sit in the midst of heaven on earth,
satisfied by an earthly happiness and governed by the smile of magnificence. This ideal society
represented by the young people of the brigata is completely laic.
CHAPTER 4: THE CULT OF DANTE, THE FRIENDSHIP WITH PETRARCA
1. THE YEARS AFTER THE DECAMERON
After the mid-1300s, public responsibilities increase. From his biography we know that in the years
following the Decameron, Boccaccio accepts the status of cleric. With the darken of his spirit after
some political events that see him indirectly involved and personally damaged, hold a position the
episode of the visit that a monk makes to Boccaccio in 1362 giving him a message of the certosino
Petroni recently dead , which invited him to abandon worldly ambitions and vanities.
There are some of the most important cultural experiences that mark Boccaccio's life and literary
production: the cult of Dante and the friendship with Petrarca.

2. LE RIME
Boccaccio began writing opera from an early age. Rimes consists of 126 compositions attributed to
him and 41 of dubious attribution. Many of the rhymes are foreign to Petrarca's modules and relate
to previous literary experiences such as that of stil novo and Dante.
At the most advanced stage of Boccaccio rhyme you will feel the influences of Petrarca:
- there will be meditations on time
- meditation on death
- those of invocation to God and the Virgin.
The devotion to petrarch is most evident in the commemorative sonnet that closes the section of the
Rhymes attributed to Boccaccio. In this sonnet weeps the missing friend on the filigree of the
sonnet that Petrarca had composed in death of Sennuccio del Bene.
Boccaccio's Rhymes are characterized by an immanent thematic eclecticism. Boccaccio's lyrical
poetics are characterized by a look at the charm of natural beauty and feminine beauty. Another
very common setting is that marine that comes alive to the movement due to the presence of
women.
 3. IL TRATTATELLO IN LAUDE DI DANTE E L’”UMILE TRATTATO” (CORBACCIO)
Most of the works after the Decameron are in Latin. There are, however, also two works in vulgar
that the author defines “trattatistico". One of the two texts is a biography the other is a
pseudoautobiography. In one of the texts he refers to Dante and in general in writing the narrative
of the life of his favorite poet there is a laudative intention. The first text is Trattatello in laude di
Dante. There are three writings:
- the first, larger written between 1351 and 1355.
- the other two are compendiums elaborated in 1360 and 1365.
In some passages it seems that Dante's life is linked with that of Boccaccio: especially when the
author exalts Dante's outstanding qualities despite his political commitments. It is as if he probably
projected the image of himself into the poet Dante. Boccaccio's celebratory predisposition knows no
brakes and sometimes the reliable reconstruction of biographical events is overwhelmed by the
fairy-art and the suggestion of the wonderful.

A vision is the inventive pretext that animates the text that is a narrative exception compared to the
writing put at the service of culture. the book is the corbaccio that should be from 1366. the
argument consists of an invective against women, expressed in the form of vision. the author, in
love with a widow, appears the ex-husband of the beloved who lists all the vices of women and
invites them to a choice of life in which there is no love at the center but dedication to studies. the
curious title has something enigmatic in it: love is probably associated with the crow because like
the raven of a corpse pecks first the eyes then the brain so the love passion makes first blind and
crazy.
The corbaccio constitutes a further exercise in that literary experimentation that characterizes
Boccaccio's descriptor activity from its inception. and on the one hand disconcerting to the
misogynistic aggression shared by an author who had distinguished himself by his philae. This is
evidence of a new genre that confirms its didactic function by turning the usefulness and
consolation of the souls of those who will read it. The originality compared to previous sources and
that in a certain sense the function of the husband and that of listing the vices of women that
provoke in the listener to get rid of a series of positive values: he reveals himself endowed with
culture of fortitude magnificence and nobility.
the choices have changed in the cultural horizon of Boccaccio : a new canon of auctores replaces
that of trust, fixed in the philcolour because now compared to the poets prevail philosophers and
historians. as a result, the female audience that had always been the public by dialect from
Boccaccio is denied.

Petrarca will reserve the decameron a poor if nothing attention except for the latest novella. after
meeting Petrarca in person in 1350 Florence the following year Boccaccio to visit him in Padua. an
episode upsets the friendship between the two when petar who decides to settle in Milan at the
Court of Giovanni Visconti opponent of Florence. after the crisis, relations are back affectionate.
dialogues and the exchange of texts and codes are never interrupted.
Boccaccio's epistoles are only 25 in all distributed over the period from 1339 to 1374. The most
reliable ones are those sent to Petrarca. more than in the Epistoles the Petrarch model is present in
other Latin writings of Boccaccio: for example in buccolicum carmen, 16 allegorical eglogues
(1349-1367), dedicated to Donato of the Albanzani.
The De casibus virorum illustrium compiled between 1356 and 1360 is dedicated to Mainardo
Cavalcanti. The 9:00 books are lined up by many illustrious men, from Adam to contemporaries,
who have fallen into poverty because of pride or by non-virtuous behavior. Boccaccio makes the
characters appear in the form of shadows willing to express their lament. One can compare the
significant gap in the title between him Petrarca Piero a related topic book: what in Petrarca is the
De viris illustribus, which indicates the exclusive interest in the characters, im Boccaccio becomes
the De casibus . with obvious privilege of events.
the scholarly work that most engages Boccaccio is represented by the genealogies deorum gentilium
to which the author works in several stages: he tamed the drafting in 13 books written between 1350
and 1359, there is a phase of revision resulting from some suggestions by Leonzio Pilato. the first
13 books make up a rich and articulate repertoire of mythology. Boccaccio reserves the last two
books for the defence of poetry and the exaltation of his literary work in which stands out the proud
claim to have been the first to broaden the horizons of humanistic culture towards the Greek world.
5
curiosity for Greek culture for literature and also for the Greek language is an element of distinction
and is the ray of intellectual interests proper to Boccaccio in addition to the homage the figure of
Dante. The devotion to Dante is attested by texts from the Neapolitan debut and also from the
drafting of the biographical level to geographical the treattle in the laude of Dante. Boccaccio after
being urged by a petition of the Council of the City of Florence agrees to comment in public on
Dante's masterpiece and the lessons that take place in the church of St. Stephen in Badia begin on
October 23, 1373. Boccaccio's commitment to reading and commentary is reflected in the
exhibitions above Dante's play that develop the notes prepared by Boccaccio for public readings.
Mouth during the commentary, tends to linger on the lexical aspects, on the rhetorical components
of the text, on the clarifications of historical facts and mythological references. sometimes
misunderques the profound meaning of Dante's poetic situations: for example in the episode of Paul
and Francesca in which the latter appears as an unconscious victim of a deception perpetrated
against him.
These readings of the Dante poem that should have represented as a kind of prestigious recognition
at the height of a life entirely dedicated to literature turn out to be not without bitterness for
Boccaccio. this is manifested in four sonnets of rhymes in which Boccaccio more than defends
against the attacks of a friend who reproaches him, admits the plausibility of the accusations trying
to reduce the limits of his own responsibility by declaring that only the insistent demands have
determined his condescension. at the beginning of 1374 the disease forced Boccaccio to stop
reading and to no longer be able to resume them. he retired to Certaldo and here in the summer of
1374 he learned of the disappearance of his friend Francesco Petrarca to whom he will direct the
last sonnet of his rhymes. At the end of the following year, on December 21, 1375 Boccaccio died
in his home of Certaldo and to mourn the death to evoke it is Franco Sacchetti with the song Or
missed all poetry.