Boccaccio, Giovanni

The Plague has been a subject for literary writings for centuries. Writers from Giovanni Boccaccio to Albert Camus have used plagues and other diseases for dramatic and literary effect. Here's a list of just a few books that use the subject of the Plague.

You probably know he wrote the masterpiece The Decameron, and that his work helped raise literature in the vernacular to the respectability of classical texts.

Was Il Decamerone the precursor to reality-based TV shows? Regarded as a masterpiece and a model for Italian classical prose, Boccaccio's influence on Renaissance literature was enormous and continues even in contemporary times.