Giovanni Boccaccio’s Il Decamerone (often translated as The Ten Days’ Work) is a landmark of early Renaissance literature, composed around 1353 during or shortly after the Black Death. The work consists of 100 short stories told over ten days by a group of ten young Florentines—seven women and three men—who retreat to a countryside villa to escape the plague ravaging Florence. Framed as a storytelling contest, each member of the group tells one tale per day, creating a vivid, layered narrative structure. Blending tragedy, comedy, wit, and romance, The Decameron reflects a cultural shift from medieval religious moralism toward a more secular, human centred worldview. The stories explore themes of love, intelligence, deception, and fortune. The work’s earthy realism, lively characters, and narrative sophistication make it a foundational text in European literature and a vital precursor to later works like Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.