The Decameron

Set against the background of the Black Death of 1348, the hundred linked tales in Giovanni Boccaccio’s undisputed masterpiece are peopled by nobles, knights, abbots, nuns, doctors, lawyers, philosophers, students, artists, tradesmen, troubadours, peasants, pilgrims, servants, spendthrifts, thieves, parasites, gluttons, gamblers, police-and lovers, both faithful and faithless.

Unabashedly earthy in its sensuality, The Decameron recaptures both the tragedies and comedies of life and is surely one of the greatest achievements in the history of literature.