One cannot but recognise in the sacrifice of Federigo degli Alberighi’s (9) falcon the presence of a component of abnegation, which reveals itself to be fundamental for the purpose of gaining the attentions of his beloved widow. This would give substance to the hypothesis that the image of the bird could allude Federigo’s virility, in some sense the victim of his love for Giovanna. In effect the metaphor of the bird, with a similar erotic connotation, is also to be found in Ricciardo Manardi’s (4) novella. Here, Caterina’s nightingale at once represents the means capable of procuring a meeting between the two lovers and the free sexuality of Ricciardo, which the parents of the girl judge to be socially inopportune and, thus, that can only be legitimised with a reparatory wedding.
In the episode of the infernal hunt, resolving vision in Nastagio degli Onesti’s (8) novella, Boccaccio upturns the aim of a famous exemplum, already a part of the repertoire of the Specchio di vera penitenza or true penitence by Iacopo Passavanti. The horrendous infernal scene, which recalls Dante’s suicide wood (Divina Commedia: Inf., XIII), is submitted to the law of the god of love, ready to punish the cruelty of he who, without reason, does not return true sentiment. The link between love and death structures the novellas of Gian di Procida (6) and Teodoro (7), condemned to be hung and graced thanks to the discovery of his lineage. The burning at the stake of lovers, fate which Gian di Procida escapes thanks to the final and successful recognition, similar to that of Teodoro, is an episode also told in the Filocolo (IV) and was much appreciated both by Ariosto, suffice it to recall Ricciardetto and Fiordispina in theOrlando Furioso, and Tasso, with Olindo and Sofronia in his Gerusalemme liberata.
A parodic revisiting of the amorous triangle, Dioneo’s novella concludes the day presenting a family ménage in which the intromission of a young lover saves the marriage between Pietro di Vinciolo, a husband with homosexual tendencies, and his young voluptuous and lusty wife.
Decameron
