The Decameron (Penguin Classics) is a complete edition of Giovanni Boccaccio’s hilarious, bawdy, irreverent masterpiece of medieval Italy. In the summer of 1348, as the Black Death devastates their city, ten young Florentines take refuge in the countryside. They amuse themselves by each telling a story a day for ten days—hundred stories of love, adventure, and surprising twists of fate. Less preoccupied with abstract concepts of morality or religion than with earthly values, these tales range from the bawdy Peronella hiding her lover in a tub to Ser Cepperello, who, despite his unholy effrontery, becomes a Saint. The result is a towering monument of European literature and a masterpiece of imaginative narrative.

This is the second edition of G. H. McWilliam’s acclaimed translation. His introduction illuminates the worlds of Boccaccio and of his storytellers, showing Boccaccio as a master of vivid and exciting prose fiction.

Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.