Character guide

Calandrino

major

Also known as Quoth Calandrino, Methinketh Calandrino, the unhappy Calandrino

A gullible painter repeatedly tricked by his friends Bruno and Buffalmacco.

Andreuccio di Pietro

major

Also known as Andreuccio, Pietro, Pietro Boccamazza

A young merchant from Perugia who falls into misadventures in Naples.

Messer Torello d'Istria

major

Also known as Torello, Messer Torello, Messer Torello de Dignes

A nobleman who goes on crusade and returns to find his wife remarried.

Tedaldo Elisei

major

Also known as Tedaldo

A Florentine lover who returns from exile disguised as a pilgrim.

Bruno

supporting

Also known as Quoth Bruno

A mischievous painter who plays pranks on Calandrino and others.

Ricciardo Minutolo

major

Also known as Ricciardo, Ricciardo Manardi

A nobleman who tricks a lady into meeting him by a clever ruse.

Gisippus

major

A generous Athenian friend who gives up his betrothed to his friend Titus.

Cimon

major

Also known as Pasimondas, thy Cimon

A rough youth transformed by love who wins his beloved through daring.

Titus Quintius Fulvus

major

Also known as Titus, Titus Quintius

A Roman who marries his friend Gisippus's betrothed and later repays him.

Master Ciappelletto

major

Also known as Ciappelletto

A wicked notary who makes a false confession and is revered as a saint.

Alessandro Chiarmontesi

major

Also known as Alessandro

A young Florentine who marries a princess after a series of adventures.

Nathan

major

Also known as Nathan straightway

A wealthy and generous man who tests the limits of his rival's envy.

Rinaldo d'Asti

major

Also known as Rinaldo, Rinaldo de' Pugliesi

A merchant robbed and then sheltered by a widow who mistakes him for her lover.

Mithridanes

major

Also known as Quoth Mithridanes

A man consumed by envy who tries to outdo Nathan in generosity.

Fra Alberto

major

A lecherous friar who deceives a woman by pretending to be the Angel Gabriel.

Nicostratus

major

A husband whose wife Lydia plots to prove her love by deceiving him.

Martellino

supporting

Also known as the wretched Martellino

A prankster who pretends to be a cripple and is nearly executed.

Catella

major

Also known as this Catella

A jealous wife tricked into sleeping with her husband's friend.

Gualtieri

major

A marquis who tests his wife Griselda's patience with cruel trials.

Nastagio degli Onesti

major

Also known as Nastagio

A young man who uses a ghostly vision to win a cruel lady's love.

Ferondo

major

A man tricked into believing he is in purgatory by a jealous abbot.

Masetto

major

A young gardener who feigns muteness to seduce nuns in a convent.

Landolfo Ruffolo

major

Also known as Landolfo

A merchant who loses his wealth at sea but recovers it through a shipwreck.

Salabaetto

major

A young merchant tricked by a Sicilian courtesan but later outwits her.

Master Simone

supporting

Also known as Simone, Quoth Master Simone

A foolish physician duped by Bruno and Buffalmacco into a treasure hunt.

Saladin

supporting

The sultan who travels incognito and is generously hosted by Messer Torello.

Ruggieri da Jeroli

major

Also known as Ruggieri, Jeroli

A young man who falls in love with a married woman and faces danger.

Federigo degli Alberighi

major

Also known as Federigo, Federigo di Neri Pegolotti

A nobleman who impoverishes himself for love and sacrifices his falcon.

Messer Angiolieri

supporting

Also known as Angiolieri

A jealous husband who is tricked by his wife and her lover.

Messer Ricciardo di Chinzica

major

Also known as Messer Ricciardo, Ricciardo di Chinzica, Ricciardo

An elderly judge who marries a young wife and cannot satisfy her.

Lauretta

supporting

Also known as Boccaccio, Lauretta Boccaccio

One of the ten storytellers in the frame narrative, often telling tales of love.

Sophronia

supporting

A young woman married to Gisippus but loved by Titus, leading to a complex love triangle.

Madam Beritola Caracciola

major

Also known as Madam Beritola, Beritola

A noblewoman who loses her family and lives as a recluse on an island.

Ghino di Tacco

major

Also known as Ghino

A famous outlaw who robs an abbot but later treats him with courtesy.

Currado Malespina

major

Also known as Currado

A nobleman who tests his wife's fidelity with a clever trick.

Ambrogiuolo

major

A deceitful merchant who wagers that he can seduce a faithful wife.

Aldobrandino Palermini

supporting

Also known as Aldobrandino

A gentleman who hosts a dinner where a prank goes wrong.

King Agilulf

major

Also known as Agilulf

A Lombard king who cleverly discovers and punishes a groom's deception.

Lydia

major

Also known as Pyrrhus, Pyrrhus Lydia

A noblewoman who proves her love for Pyrrhus by performing impossible tasks.

Gabriotto

major

A young lover who dies suddenly in his beloved's arms.

Tingoccio Mini

major

Also known as Tingoccio

A man who makes a pact with his friend about the afterlife.

Pampinea

supporting

The eldest of the ten storytellers, who proposes the retreat from Florence.

Fra Rinaldo

major

Also known as Rinaldo, our Fra Rinaldo, Quoth Fra Rinaldo

A friar who seduces a woman and then escapes her husband's wrath.

Zeppa di Mino

major

Also known as Zeppa

A man who discovers his wife's infidelity and retaliates in kind.

Messer Fortarrigo

major

Also known as Fortarrigo

A gambler who loses everything and then tricks his brother.

Pamfilo

supporting

One of the ten storytellers, known for his wise and romantic tales.

Anichino

major

A servant who seduces his master's wife and is caught but forgiven.

Dioneo

supporting

Also known as Quoth Dioneo, Quoth

A witty storyteller who often tells the final, humorous tale of each day.

Arriguccio Berlinghieri

major

Also known as Arriguccio

A merchant who discovers his wife's affair and is tricked by her.

Giacomino da Pavia

supporting

Also known as Giacomino

A man who leaves his wealth to his nephew, causing family conflict.

Messer Ruggieri de' Figiovanni

supporting

Also known as Messer Ruggieri, Ruggieri

A nobleman who is tricked by a jealous husband into a humiliating situation.

Constantine

major

A young man who falls in love with a woman and faces her father's opposition.

Bernabo Lomellini

major

Also known as Bernabo, meseemeth Bernabo

A merchant who wagers on his wife's fidelity and is deceived by a trick.

Tancred

major

A prince who kills his daughter's lover and sends her his heart in a goblet.

Buffalmacco

supporting

Also known as Quoth Buffalmacco, Meanwhile Buffalmacco

A painter and prankster who often collaborates with Bruno.

Guiscardo

major

A young page who becomes the lover of Princess Ghismonda and is killed.

Messer Geri Spina

supporting

Also known as Spina, Messer Geri

A nobleman who is cuckolded by his wife with a young lover.

Simona

major

Also known as Paul, Pasquino, Stramba, Atticciato, Malagevole, Guccio Imbratta, Guccio

A young woman whose lover dies after eating a poisoned sage leaf.

Giosefo

supporting

A Jewish man who converts to Christianity after a series of events.

Puccio di Rinieri

major

Also known as Rinieri, this Rinieri

A man who is tricked by his wife and her lover into believing a lie.

Spinelloccio Tanena

supporting

Also known as Spinelloccio

A man who has an affair with his friend's wife and is discovered.

Messer Egano de' Gulluzzi

major

Also known as Egano

A husband who is tricked by his wife and her lover into a humiliating situation.

Ninetta

supporting

A young woman who is tricked into marriage by a clever suitor.

Gianni di Procida

major

Also known as Gianni, Procida

A young man who rescues his beloved from a sultan's harem.

Mistress Belcolore

major

Also known as Belcolore

A peasant woman who outwits a lecherous priest.

Messer Gentile de' Carisendi

major

Also known as Messer Gentile, Messer Gentile Carisendi, Gentile

A nobleman who revives a woman thought dead and restores her to her husband.

Gabriel

supporting

Also known as the Angel Gabriel, Angel Gabriel

The archangel impersonated by Fra Alberto to seduce a Venetian woman.

Filostrato

supporting

One of the ten storytellers, often telling tragic tales of love.

Madam Sismonda

major

Also known as Sismonda

A wife who cleverly defends herself against her husband's accusations.

Messer Currado

major

Also known as Currado

A nobleman who tests his cook's wit after a crane is served missing a leg.

Il Zima

major

Also known as Zima

A young man who wins a lady by a clever speech to her husband.

Andrevuola

major

A young woman who secretly marries and is widowed, then faces her family.

Peronella

major

Also known as Quoth Peronella

A clever wife who hides her lover from her husband in a barrel.

Primasso

major

A poor scholar who tricks a greedy abbot into giving him a meal.

Giannotto

major

Also known as Quoth Giannotto

A young man who pretends to be deaf to seduce a woman.

Sicurano da Finale

major

Also known as Sicurano

A woman disguised as a sailor who becomes a sultan's trusted captain.

Fra Puccio

major

A devout but gullible friar tricked by his wife and her lover.

Niccolosa

supporting

A young woman who is seduced by a friar and later married off.

Messer Filippo Argenti

minor

Also known as Messer Filippo

A Florentine nobleman known for his bad temper and later mocked by Dante.

Fiammetta

supporting

Also known as Madonna Fiammetta

One of the ten storytellers, often telling passionate tales of love.

Ghismonda

major

A princess who takes a low-born lover and defies her father's cruelty.