Read-along
The Decameron: Ten Days
Ten young Florentines leave the plague behind for a villa in the hills, and each day one of their stories is yours.
- Next cohort
- Next cohort 19 October
- Length
- Length 10 days
In the spring of 1348 the plague came to Florence and killed perhaps half the city. Boccaccio, who lived through it, imagined seven young women and three young men who met in a church, agreed to leave, and spent a fortnight in the hills telling each other stories, ten a day for ten days. The hundred tales that came of it are sly, bawdy, tender and very funny, and they made the short story what it still is. This takes one tale from each of the ten days: the best known, from the three rings to patient Griselda. A fresh group sets off every fortnight.
Read one big book alongside other readers, a day at a time. Cohorts set off on the date above.
The first button needs the app on this device; the second gets it there.
Day by day
- Day 1. The First Day: The Three RingsGiovanni Boccaccio, 20 min
- Day 2. The Second Day: Andreuccio of PerugiaGiovanni Boccaccio, 20 min
- Day 3. The Third Day: Masetto the GardenerGiovanni Boccaccio, 20 min
- Day 4. The Fourth Day: The Pot of BasilGiovanni Boccaccio, 20 min
- Day 5. The Fifth Day: Federigo's FalconGiovanni Boccaccio, 20 min
- Day 6. The Sixth Day: Friar OnionGiovanni Boccaccio, 20 min
- Day 7. The Seventh Day: The Wine VatGiovanni Boccaccio, 20 min
- Day 8. The Eighth Day: The HeliotropeGiovanni Boccaccio, 20 min
- Day 9. The Ninth Day: Calandrino with ChildGiovanni Boccaccio, 20 min
- Day 10. The Tenth Day: Patient GriseldaGiovanni Boccaccio, 20 min