Short stories
Tales from Sacchetti
Il Trecentonovelle
Franco Sacchetti · 1397
Synopsis
Three hundred Florentine tales, of which two hundred and twenty-three have come down to us. There is no frame story: the author himself narrates, often as a witness, and it is his voice that holds the collection together. The characters are people of the city and of the lords' courts, many of them recognisable, craftsmen, merchants, jesters, judges or lords, caught up in the pranks, misunderstandings and repartees of daily life.
Context
The author conceived the collection around 1385 and wrote it from about 1392 to 1397; it remained in manuscript until its first printed edition, in 1724, and a quarter of the tales are now lost. In French, a bilingual edition directed by Sylvain Trousselard and Michelangelo Zaccarello has been appearing from Classiques Garnier since 2024; in English, Mary G. Steegmann gave a selection in 1908.
Who it is for
Brief tales to be dipped into, for those interested in the daily life of Florence in the late Middle Ages.
Prizes and reception
According to Fabula, a gallery of characters often recognisable from a society as divided as it was curious.