On this day, 650 years ago, on December 21, 1375 (November 28, 1375 lunar calendar), Giovanni Boccaccio, the author of the Decameron, passed away. Two-frame illustrations in Boccaccio's work "Lamentations of Fiameda" In 1348, in Florence, Italy, a vicious plague was prevalent - the Black Death. To escape the plague, three young men and seven young women met in the church of Santa Lea Novella. They fled together to take refuge in a villa in the countryside. Here, in addition to enjoying the scenery, feasting and dancing, in order to kill time, they agreed to each tell a story every day. A total of 100 stories were told in 10 days. These 100 stories are the entire content of the world literary masterpiece "Decameron". It was written by Boccaccio, one of the earliest representatives of the Italian Renaissance. Boccaccio, the illegitimate son of a Florentine merchant and a French woman, was born in Paris in 1313 and lost his mother as a child. After his father remarried, he was taken back to Florence and spent his childhood in the cold family of his father and stepmother. He aspired to write poetry as a child, and was called a "poet" by his friends. In 1328, his father forced him to study business, but he wasted six years. Later, his father sent him to Naples to study law, but he was as uninterested in religious law as he was in business. He said: "I wasted another six years or so. I hated it so much. The teachings of my master, the orders of my father, and even the persuasion of my friends could not make me feel at ease to learn, because my good poetry cannot be restrained. "Nonetheless, this life in Naples left a profound impact on Bocaccio. At that time, the Neapolitan court was relatively open, and a group of famous scholars gathered around the king. Bocaccio had the opportunity to enter the court, come into contact with the court and the life of the noble knights, come into contact with humanists, read many ancient Roman literary works, and expand his cultural knowledge. Here, he also fell in love with Maria, the illegitimate daughter of the King of Naples. This romantic life left a mark in his creation. In his poems for Maria, he used the pseudonym" Fiameda ". Boccaccio wrote many books in his life, including: "Arrocolo", "Desaida", "The Phantom of Love", "Fiameda", "The Biography of Dante" and so on. The most influential is the collection of short stories "Decameron". Through those 100 stories, the author mocks the corruption and incompetence of the church, the treachery and hypocrisy of the monks, opposes asceticism, celebrates love, and advocates social equality and equality between men and women. Its flaw is that it often overstates sexual desire and vulgar taste, which produces certain negative effects. However, it can be regarded as a famous work, which has had a huge impact on Western European literature. Boccaccio died on December 21, 1375. The cover of the Chinese translation of the work "Decameron" by the Italian writer Boccaccio This picture is based on a story in "Decameron"