Cover of The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio

The Decameron

4.1 · 16 ratings on Open Library

Seven women and three men each tell a story a day for ten days while sheltering to avoid the black plague.

$2.99

  • Instant download, no account needed
  • DRM-free EPUB for Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books and Android
  • Secure checkout with card, Apple Pay or Google Pay
Length
292,000 words
Reading time
About 18 hours
Format
EPUB, DRM-free

About the book

In the time of a devastating pandemic, seven women and three men withdraw to a country estate outside Florence to give themselves a diversion from the death around them. Once there, they decide to spend some time each day telling stories, each of the ten to tell one story each day. They do this for ten days, with a few other days of rest in between, resulting in the 100 stories of the Decameron.

The Decameron was written after the Black Plague spread through Italy in 1348. Most of the tales did not originate with Boccaccio; some of them were centuries old already in his time, but Boccaccio imbued them all with his distinctive style. The stories run the gamut from tragedy to comedy, from lewd to inspiring, and sometimes all of those at once. They also provide a detailed picture of daily life in fourteenth-century Italy.

This is the Standard Ebooks edition, carefully proofread and typeset, with a table of contents and linked footnotes.

What readers think

4.1 out of 5

16 ratings of The Decameron from Open Library readers, as of 10th Nov.

  • 5 stars50%
  • 4 stars19%
  • 3 stars25%
  • 2 stars6%
  • 1 star0%