ABSTRACT
The earliest imitations of Boccaccio's Decameron are Ser Giovanni Fiorentino's Pecorone, Franco Sacchetti's Trecentonovelle, and Giovanni Sercambi's Novelliere. Although these works are considered the first imitations of Boccaccio's Decameron, Sacchetti's Trecentonovelle and Sercambi's Novelliere vary significantly from Boccaccio's model compared to later Renaissance and Baroque decamerons. Epidemic illness played a significant role in both Sacchetti and Sercambi's lives. The stories of Sacchetti and Sercambi's decamerons were written to distract an audience of readers and listeners. This diversion served not only as entertainment, but also as repose for the minds burdened with the fears of plague. Sacchetti and Sercambi continue Boccaccio's innovative tradition of narration as prophylaxis and apply it to their contemporary society's fear of contagion. Sacchetti and Sercambi followed in Boccaccio's footsteps by adopting his formula of narrating stories as a means of prophylaxis, yet the results are two very different decamerons.
