“Then marvel not, O reader, if you find
The book and writer of the self-same kind.”
Oscillating between stories of romance, murder, deceit, papal conflicts, European wars, and ancient history, Giovanni Fiorentino’s Il Pecorone never wears thin one theme, making it a serious contender for the most diverse short story collection in history.
While perhaps overshadowed by the Boccaccio’s Decameron, this Italian collection of stories written between 1378 and 1385 has nevertheless been profoundly significant on the literary tradition; directly influencing Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor and Merchant of Venice.
