Reading Order
The Decameron Reading Order
The Decameron (1353) by Giovanni Boccaccio is a frame narrative of one hundred tales told by ten young people who have fled to a villa outside Florence to escape the Black Death of 1348. Over ten days (deca hemeron means 'ten days' in Greek), each of the ten narrators tells one story per day, organized around thematic prompts set by the day's queen or king. The tales range from bawdy comic fabliaux about adulterous clergy and cuckolded husbands to romantic tragedies of fatal love to tales of wit, fortune, and the triumph of human ingenuity over fate. Boccaccio's range is extraordinary: the same author who tells the ribald tale of Alibech learning 'to put the devil in hell' also tells the tragic story of Ghismonda, who receives her murdered lover's heart in a golden cup. The Decameron is the most important work of Italian prose fiction before Manzoni, the primary source for many of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and several of Shakespeare's plots (All's Well That Ends Well, Cymbeline, The Two Gentlemen of Verona), and the founding work of the European short story tradition. Its framing premise — the plague as occasion for storytelling — made it an obvious reference point during the COVID-19 pandemic, when plague-literature experienced a revival of interest.
Where to start
The Decameron (1353) — in a modern translation. Best Decameron reading order: G.H. McWilliam's Penguin Classics prose translation is the standard; Wayne Rebhorn's Norton Critical Edition is the most complete scholarly text. The complete Decameron is best read in the original order — the frame narrative gives context for the daily themes. For a sampler, Days 1, 4, 5, and 10 include the most famous tales.
Complete The Decameron Book List
- 1Buy
The Decameron
Giovanni Boccaccio (trans. G.H. McWilliam)·1995·The standard modern translation — McWilliam's prose is clear, fluent, and captures both the comic and tragic registers; the Penguin Classics edition is the most widely used - 2Buy
The Decameron
Giovanni Boccaccio (trans. Wayne Rebhorn)·2013·The most complete scholarly translation — Rebhorn's Norton Critical Edition includes extensive textual notes and the most important critical essays; the best edition for serious study - 3Buy
The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer·1400·The companion frame narrative of the same period — Chaucer knew the Decameron intimately and drew on Boccaccio for several tales; the most important contemporary parallel to the Decameron in European literature - 4Buy
One Thousand and One Nights
Anonymous (trans. Husain Haddawy)·1990·The Arabic frame narrative that preceded the Decameron and shares its structure of stories within a story — Scheherazade's tales are the Eastern tradition's equivalent to the Decameron's Western frame narrative - 5Buy
Fiammetta
Giovanni Boccaccio·1343·Boccaccio's earlier prose work — an amorous complaint narrated by a woman who has been abandoned by her lover; the work that immediately precedes the Decameron and reveals the emotional range Boccaccio brought to the larger frame narrative - 6Buy
Il Filostrato
Giovanni Boccaccio·1340·Boccaccio's verse narrative of Troilus and Criseyde that was Chaucer's primary source — reading Boccaccio's original alongside Chaucer's version reveals exactly what Chaucer took and what he transformed; essential for understanding the relationship between the two great vernacular writers
The Decameron — Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Decameron about?
The Decameron (1353) by Giovanni Boccaccio is a frame narrative of one hundred tales told by ten young Florentines who have retreated to a country villa to escape the Black Death of 1348. Over ten days, each narrator tells one story per day, organized around thematic prompts (tales of fortune, love, wit, clergy, happy endings, and so on). The tales range from bawdy fabliaux and comic tales of clerical hypocrisy to romantic tragedies and stories of courtly virtue. Boccaccio's range is extraordinary and his influence immense: Chaucer drew on the Decameron for several Canterbury Tales, and Shakespeare used Boccaccio plots for at least three plays.
What is the best translation of the Decameron?
G.H. McWilliam's Penguin Classics prose translation (first published 1972, revised 1995) is the standard modern rendering, widely used in university teaching and praised for its clarity and range. Wayne Rebhorn's 2013 Norton Critical Edition translation is the most scholarly and complete, with extensive notes. Mark Musa and Peter Bondanella's translation (Mentor/NAL) is a reliable alternative. For readers who want a sampler, Richard Aldington's older translation includes the most famous tales.
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