“Fiammetta” (“The Elegy of Madonna Fiammetta,” 1343–1344, published 1472) is one of the early works of the Italian writer and poet Giovanni Boccaccio. According to the author himself, he dedicated this tale to loving women, which is noteworthy — the story is presented in the voice of the heroine, creating a kind of confession of a forsaken girl, a true chronicle of a woman’s heart.
The very title of the work, in the context of the writer's oeuvre, appears quite symbolic. Fiammetta — under this poetic name, Boccaccio celebrated his beloved, Maria d'Agquino, whom he met during his stay in Naples. Biographers of the poet debate the nature and closeness of their relationship; however, literary tradition has forever preserved the memory of yet another beautiful muse, alongside Dante's Beatrice and Petrarch's Laura. The love story for Fiammetta — directly or indirectly — permeates all of Boccaccio's works in Italian, but it is in the namesake tale that it reaches a remarkable depth of psychological description.
Left alone after a brief yet tumultuous romance, the heroine experiences emotional torment, sincerely sharing her thoughts on love and betrayal, the pain of loss, and attempts to overcome it. The exceptional frankness, the subtlety of conveying complex and contradictory feelings testify to the author’s passionate interest in the emotional life, a conscious observation of it. Thus, the fundamental principles of the humanist movement found their artistic embodiment, making “Fiammetta” the first love-psychological novel in world literature.
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