View source for Decameron

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[[Image:Boccaccio - Decameron, MCCCCLXXXXII ad di XX de giugno - 3852856 Scan00015.tif|thumb|''Decameron'', 1492]]
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The '''''Decameron''''' is a collection of 100 short stories. It was written by the [[Italy|Italian]] writer [[Giovanni Boccaccio]] around 1350. In the book, ten friends, seven young women and three young men, leave the city of [[Florence]] because of the [[Bubonic plague|plague]] and stay in a large house in the countryside. Each day, they entertain each other by taking turns to tell stories. The stories are of different types. Some are [[Love|romantic]], some are [[comedy|comedies]] and some are [[tragedy|tragedies]].  

Other writers have used the stories for ideas. Many paintings have been done which illustrate the stories. The picture to the right shows a scene from the story of "The Pot of Basil" in which Isabella buries the head of her murdered lover Ferdinand inside a potplant.

== Other websites ==
* [http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/ Decameron Web], from [[Brown University]]
* [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/boccacio2.html The Decameron - Introduction], from the [[Internet Medieval Sourcebook]]


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[[Category:1353 books]]