Set in the time when Italians faced the Black Death, which "had originated some years earlier in the East, where it had claimed countless lives before it unhappily spread westward, growing in strength as it swept relentlessly on from one place to the next," this book makes for interesting reading in the present day with COVID-19. Ten young nobles, seven women and three men, escape Florence to isolate themselves in the Tuscan countryside, and to entertain themselves, they decide to tell stories, one each per day for ten days (excluding holy days). To modern readers, perhaps it is difficult to relate to or sympathize with these 14th-century 1-percenters, and yet the hundred stories they eventually tell are mostly very good, some even resonant with the works of Shakespeare (whom Boccaccio influenced). Most every day has a theme, and most of these themes (and indeed most of the stories) deal with some variant of forbidden love. I found this to be a bit tiresome, especially with the more straightforward stories, but Boccaccio includes enough "out there" stories to more than make up for it. I especially enjoyed the series of stories about the hapless Calandrino and his tormentors, which along with a few other humorous stories in the collection reminded me of the Three Stooges. Boccaccio's overall theme seems to find echoes in Stephen Stills: "If you can't be with the one you love, honey, love the one you're with." That is, in the end, it is love that matters.

This edition from Penguin includes a lengthy introduction (which I did not read this time), copious (and sometimes superfluous) notes, and beautiful (yet probably unnecessary) maps. It's a big hunk of wood to be sure, but a worthy companion in these times.