Florence, Italy, 1348. The story begins in Florence, Italy, circa 1348, around the time of an outbreak of the Plague and at the dawn of the Italian Renaissance.

Where in Italy does this story begin the Decameron?

Stylistically, it is the most perfect example of Italian classical prose, and its influence on Renaissance literature throughout Europe was enormous. The Decameron begins with the flight of 10 young people (7 women and 3 men) from plague-stricken Florence in 1348.

Why is the Decameron banned?

Boccaccio's most famous work, the Decameron, was condemned by the Catholic Church and included in the index of Prohibited Books (Index librorum prohibitorum) in 1559 on the grounds of its "intolerable errors." In the USA the work was banned until the 1930s. Boccaccio was born in Florence or Certaldo, June or July 1313.