In these days of the corona virus pandemic it's hard not to think of Boccaccio's Decameron, in which a group of young people get out into the countryside outside Florence and spend their time telling tales while the pandemic (1347-1351) ravages the city and much of the rest of Europe. A couple of things about this work are worth a brief mention, I think.
One of these, of at least some interest in light of today's strategies for holding off contamination, is that the young people in Boccaccio's work find refuge from the plague by getting OUT of the city into the safety of the countryside, instead of being forced to stay indoors.
The other thing has really nothing to do with the virus but may be of interest to Friulian fans (like me, I guess). Boccaccio was a Tuscan and the Friuli of his time would have been very far from home for him. In fact his Decameron never mentions Friuli except once near the end, in Story Five of the Tenth Day. In fact, as can be seen from the excerpt below, he even mentions Udine and Grado. That calls for a big WOW. And by the way, everyone knows that Friuli is really short for Forum Julii, which sort of tells us that a couple of thousand years ago Julius Caesar in all likelihood had an encampment set up there, at the foothills of the Alps. Lots of people know that, I guess. But not many will know this (which is something I've just found out too): that according to some scholars Friuli may also come from Frigoli (from the Latin frigus) meaning Cool. And that, I think, is pretty cool, and sort of puts in context the first few lines of the excerpt below.
In Friuli, a country which, though its air is shrewd, is pleasantly diversified by fine mountains and not a few rivers and clear fountains, is a city called Udine, where dwelt of yore a fair and noble lady, Madonna Dianora by name, wife of a wealthy grandee named Giliberto, a very pleasant gentleman, and debonair. Now this lady, for her high qualities, was in the last degree beloved by a great and noble baron, Messer Ansaldo Gradense by name, a man of no little consequence, and whose fame for feats of arms and courtesy was spread far and wide. But, though with all a lover's ardour he left nought undone that he might do to win her love, and to that end frequently plied her with his ambassages, 'twas all in vain. And the lady being distressed by his importunity, and that, refuse as she might all that he asked of her, he none the less continued to love her and press his suit upon her, bethought her how she might rid herself of him by requiring of him an extraordinary and, as she deemed, impossible feat. (Source: Opera Omnia)
In Frioli, paese, quantunque freddo, lieto di belle montagne, di più fiumi e di chiare fontane, è una terra chiamata Udine, nella quale fu già una bella e nobile donna, chiamata madonna Dianora, e moglie d'un gran ricco uomo nominato Gilberto, assai piacevole e di buona aria. E meritò questa donna per lo suo valore d'essere amata sommamente da un nobile e gran barone, il quale aveva nome messer Ansaldo Gradense, uomo d'alto affare, e per arme e per cortesia conosciuto per tutto. Il quale, ferventemente amandola e ogni cosa faccendo che per lui si poteva per essere amato da lei, e a ciò spesso per sue ambasciate sollicitandola, invano si faticava. E essendo alla donna gravi le sollicitazioni del cavaliere, e veggendo che, per negare ella ogni cosa da lui domandatole, esso per ciò d'amarla né di sollicitarla si rimaneva, con una nuova e al suo giudicio impossibil domanda si pensò di volerlosi torre da dosso.
