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Federigo’s Falcon from the Decameron
by Giovanni Boccaccio
Pre-Reading Activities
1. Read the author information on page 152. Take notes about Giovanni Boccaccio in the space below.
2. Read “Make the Connection” on page 153.
3. Read the “Background” information for the story on page 153. Take notes in the space below.
4. The following summary of the story will help you better understand the material as you read:
The nobleman Federigo is so in love with Mona Giovanna, a virtuous married woman, that he
impoverishes himself trying to win her and is forced to move to a small farm with only one
valuable possession, a falcon. After Monna Giovanna’s husband dies, she and her son move to
a farm near Federigo’s, where the boy grows fond of the falcon. When the son becomes ill, he
asks his mother for the bird. Monna Giovanna reluctantly goes to Federigo and offers to dine
with him. Deeply honored, Federigo kills the falcon to serve a meal worthy of her. After they
have eaten, Monna Giovanna makes her request. The sad irony of the situation is intensified
when Monna Giovanna’s son dies but is alleviated later when she marries Federigo, whose
noble gesture has won her hear.
Reading Activities
5. Which details in the first paragraph reflect the medieval time setting?
6. How does Federigo lose his wealth?
7. What stipulations did Giovanna’s husband make before he died?
8. What do you learn about Federigo in the second column on page 154?
9. List the events that lead up to Monna Giovanna’s son’s request for the falcon.
a.
b.
c.
10. How does Federigo’s predicament reflect the medieval convention of courtly love?
11. In the left column on page 155, what conflict does Monna Giovanna face?
12. Do you approve of the way she resolves the conflict?
13. How is the meal an example of situational irony?
14. What does the scene when Federigo weeps tell you about the medieval attitude toward crying?
15. Paraphrase (put in your own words) Federigo’s speech beginning with “My lady…” in the left column on
page 156.
16. What does the role of the brothers suggest about the status of women during the middle ages?
Post-Reading Activities
17. The background information on page 153 explains that this story was meant to have a “happy ending.” Do
you believe is happy? Why or Why not?
18. In the twelfth century, rules governing the “game” of love were actually set down by a court of love in
France. Four of the rules are listed below. Do you agree or disagree with these “rules”? Have the rules of
love changed?
iii. No one can be bound by a double love.
xiv. The easy attainment of love makes it of little value; difficulty of attainment makes it prized.
xvii. A new love puts to flight an old one.
xix. If love diminishes, it quickly fails and rarely revives.
19. Federigo and Monna Giovanna live in fourteenth-century Italy. But we share with them some basic human
problems. Certain human emotions are universal, no matter what era people live in. Select one of the
following from the list below and write about a couple (real or fictional) who faced the same scenario.
a. Federigo loves someone who doesn’t love him.
b. Giovanna must cope with a dying son’s wish.
c. Giovanna has to ask a favor of someone she has ignored and rejected.
d. Federigo has to deal with the discovery that a noble gesture was actually a terrible mistake.