To enshrine these hundred stories, Boccaccio established a narrative framework. The work begins with a description of the plague (the epidemic which hit Florence in 1348), which gives reason to a group of seven young women and three men fleeing the plague take refuge in a villa on the outskirts of Florence. To pass the time, each group member tells a story for each of the ten nights they spend in the village, which gives the book name in Greek: deka δέκα 'ten' and ἡμέραι hēmérai 'days. " This will tell a hundred stories in total.
The themes are mostly secular, in keeping with the bourgeois mentality began to take shape in Florence: human intelligence, fortune and love. Ranging from "bad luck stories that unexpectedly change to happiness" (day two, under the leadership of Filomena) to considerably more interesting stories of "women who play tricks with their husbands' (day seven, under the leadership of Dioneo). Each day also includes a brief introduction and a conclusion describing other daily activities of the group, as well as storytelling. These interludes also include transcripts of the story Italian folk songs in verse.
SEARCH THE ROOM readings THE EIGHTH DAY OF THE FIFTH NOVEL