Page 100 - SUMMARIES OF GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO’S DECAMEON : A Visionary Journey In 100 Stories And 100 Etchings By Petru Russu

A Love That Could Not Be : Girolamo and Salvestra

In the bustling city of Florence, Girolamo is born into wealth and
privilege, the only son of a prosperous merchant. Raised with care
and ambition, he is expected to marry well and carry on the family
name. But love, as Neifile reminds us, does not heed reason or social

expectation. As a boy, Girolamo forms a deep bond with Salvestra,
the daughter of a tailor. Their friendship blossoms into love, pure,
passionate, and unshakable.

His mother, alarmed by the mismatch in status, fears that Girolamo might
secretly marry Salvestra. She pleads with him to leave for Paris, hoping
distance will dissolve his affection. Girolamo resists, but eventually yields,
agreeing to go for a year. That year stretches into two, and by the time he

returns, the world has changed: Salvestra is married.

Girolamo is devastated. The girl he loved is no longer his, and the life
he imagined has vanished. But his heart refuses to let go. One night,

driven by longing and sorrow, he sneaks into Salvestra’s home and lies
beside her as she sleeps. His body, weakened by grief and emotional
torment, gives out. He dies quietly, his final breath taken in the
presence of the woman he could never have.

INFUSED WITH THE AESTHETICS
At dawn, Salvestra awakens to find Girolamo cold and lifeless beside
OF CONTEMPORARY TRAGIC
ROMANTICISM AND LAYERED her. The shock is unbearable. Her heart, still tethered to his, breaks. She
SYMBOLISM, THE ARTWORK collapses and dies instantly, her soul following his into the unknown.
EVOKES GIROLAMO AND
SALVESTRA’S LOVE AS A SILENT
CRESCENDO, WHERE TENDER Their bodies are brought to the church, and the tale ends with a
FIGURATION MEETS SPECTRAL haunting image: two lovers, denied happiness in life, united in death.
ABSTRACTION, CULMINATING
Their story becomes a whispered legend, a cautionary tale of love’s
IN A REQUIEM OF SLEEP AND
power to defy time, reason, and even mortality.
SURRENDER.
DECAMERON 98 99