{"id":9002,"date":"2020-03-23T11:35:02","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T10:35:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.facsimilefinder.com\/articles\/?p=9002"},"modified":"2021-02-15T18:26:43","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T17:26:43","slug":"fighting-pandemic-stories-14-century-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.facsimilefinder.com\/articles\/fighting-pandemic-stories-14-century-italy\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting a Pandemic with Stories, in 14th-century Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"boccaccio-s-decameron\"<\/a>
1st day, 4th story<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While most of the world is forced to sit at home and avoid all kinds of social contact, we asked ourselves what art and history lovers<\/strong> can do with their time now that many museums have shut their doors. Something the pandemic cannot take away from us is the joy<\/strong> we find in the things we treasure the most<\/strong>, and for us, that means browsing through age-old manuscripts<\/strong> and discovering new insights in the history of miniature<\/strong>. The Middle Ages<\/strong> have taught us that there are countless ways to build our resilience<\/strong> in the face of epidemics<\/strong>, which were then less rare but not less disastrous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"boccaccio-s-decameron\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The last day before the lockdown in Italy<\/strong> began \u2014 after which we all started working from home \u2014 we consulted a facsimile<\/strong> of one of the masterpieces of Italian and European literature<\/a><\/strong>, namely the Decameron<\/strong> by Giovanni Boccaccio<\/strong>. Written in 1353, in the wake of the Black Plague<\/strong> that wiped out half of Florence<\/strong>\u2019s population, this collection of 100 stories<\/strong> is built exactly on the premise that art \u2014 in this case, literature \u2014 can help us overcome what seems to have no solution at all, simply by captivating our imagination<\/strong> and helping us travel with our minds. The ten main characters escape the Plague<\/strong> by fleeing to a villa<\/strong> outside Florence<\/strong>, where they spend time telling each other stories<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While we flipped in awe through the volume\u2019s dozens of miniatures<\/a><\/strong> \u2014 inspired by another, previous manuscript of the Decameron kept in the Vatican Library<\/strong> and known as Decameron Vaticano<\/a><\/strong> \u2014 we found ourselves laughing<\/strong> and wondering how Boccaccio managed to liven up not just his characters\u2019 quarantine<\/strong> \u2014 but also our own isolation<\/strong>, more than 600 years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We wish the three humorous stories<\/strong> we are about to share with you will help you look on the lighter side<\/strong> of things, even during this complicated time. In this volume, readers are invited to contemplate particular lives through the doors<\/strong>, the open windows<\/strong>, the galleries of houses as if they themselves were intruding into their intimacy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n