Casa del Boccaccio

The building where Giovanni Boccaccio – who was born in Certaldo in 1313 – is traditionally thought to have lived has been rebuilt after being damaged in the Second World War. It is now occupied by a museum and a specialist library devoted to the life and works of Boccaccio.

The library has a number offine illustrated editions of the poet’s great masterpiece, the Decameron, which was written between 1349 and 1351 and became celebrated principally as a result of some humorous, bawdy novellas.

There is also a garden near the museum, designed to enhance the space adjacent to the house. It aims to interpret, in the spirit of our times, the fundamental themes of the garden described by Boccaccio, in particular the one depicted in the Introduction to the third day of the Decameron.