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Cover of The Decameron, Volume I

The Decameron, Volume I

by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375)

  • Free to read
  • 9 hours to read
  • 44 chapters
  • Reading level: 10th to 12th grade

"The Decameron, Volume I" by Giovanni Boccaccio is a collection of short stories written between 1348 and 1353. Ten young people flee plague-ridden Florence to a countryside villa, where they pass two weeks telling one hundred tales. These stories range from erotic to tragic love, clever wit, practical jokes, and life lessons. The work satirizes the clergy, explores fortune's power, and captures tensions between social classes. Written in vernacular Florentine, it became a masterpiece of early Italian prose and influenced works like Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales."

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  • Plague · Europe · History
  • Storytelling
  • Allegories
  • Frame stories

Read the opening

Proem

- FIRST DAY -

NOVEL I. - Ser Ciappelletto cheats a holy friar by a false confession, and dies; and, having lived as a very bad man, is, on his death, reputed a saint, and called San Ciappelletto.

NOVEL II. - Abraham, a Jew, at the instance of Jehannot de Chevigny, goes to the court of Rome, and having marked the evil life of clergy, returns to Paris, and becomes a Christian.

NOVEL III. - Melchisedech, a Jew, by a story of three rings averts a danger with which he was menaced by Saladin.

NOVEL IV. - A monk lapses into a sin meriting the most severe punishment, justly censures the same fault in his abbot, and thus evades the penalty.

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Contents

Show all 44 chapters
  1. Proem
  2. Volume I
  3. Volume I
  4. Introduction
  5. Proem
  6. Novel I
  7. Novel Ii
  8. Novel Iii
  9. Novel Iv
  10. Novel V
  11. Novel Vi
  12. Novel Vii
  13. Novel Viii
  14. Novel Ix
  15. Novel X
  16. Novel I
  17. Novel Ii
  18. Novel Iii
  19. Novel Iv
  20. Novel V
  21. Novel Vi
  22. Novel Vii
  23. Novel Viii
  24. Novel Ix
  25. Novel X
  26. Novel I
  27. Novel Ii
  28. Novel Iii
  29. Novel Iv
  30. Novel V
  31. Novel Vi
  32. Novel Vii
  33. Novel Viii
  34. Novel Ix
  35. Novel X
  36. Novel I
  37. Novel Ii
  38. Novel Iii
  39. Novel Iv
  40. Novel V
  41. Novel Vi
  42. Novel Vii
  43. Novel Viii
  44. Novel Ix
  45. Novel X

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About this edition

This free edition of The Decameron, Volume I by Giovanni Boccaccio comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #3726, released 2003-02-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Short Stories, Classics of Literature.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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