Decameron

The names of the honest brigade

The names assigned to the storytellers of the honest brigade are evident senhals, among which we find some of the names of characters from Boccaccio’s preceding works. Fiammetta (the “ardent”) is the heroine of the Elegy, with the same name, but is also the lover of the Neapolitan lyrics, the supposed regal descent of which, were she to be Maria d’Aquino, illegitimate daughter of King Robert, would add fuel to a literary myth, carefully constructed by Boccaccio. It is she who is the recipient of the Filocolo, the dedicatory of the Teseida and the Amorosa visione, where she is allusively referred to among the ladies of the triumph of love. The name of the woman is linked to that of Caleon, probably the pseudonym of Boccaccio, in the Filocolo, where the young member of the Neapolitan aristocratic circle busy with the game of courtly love sings the praise of his beloved; in the Comedia delle ninfe fiorentine or comedy of Florentine nymphs it is instead Fiammetta to confess her love for Caleon. If Filomena (the “beloved”) is saluted as the dedicatory to the Filostrato, Emilia is the woman contested in the Teseida and Pampinea (the “luxuriant”) is among the characters of the Ameto and the Buccolicum carmen. With Lauretta, Neifile (the “one new to love”) and Elissa the onomastic allusion is veiled with encomium with the memory of, respectively, Petrarch’s beloved, Dante’s young girl and Virgil’s Dido. Also the names of the male storytellers of the brigade have their significance, rich in recollection of past works. Panfilo (the “all love”) is the much appreciated storyteller of the Fiammetta, Filostrato (the “vanquished by love”) is the pseudonym of the author and title of the brief poem by the same name, whilst Dioneo (the “venereal”) is already outlined as a character in the Ameto and the Mavortis milex as a swashbuckling sort inclined towards lasciviousness[1].

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[1]C. Muscetta, Boccaccio, Bari 1986², pp. 164-165.