SERCAMBI, GIOVANNI. - Apothecary, soldier, notable citizen, writer, dear to the Guinigi, b. at Lucca on 18 Feb. 1347, d. there on 27 May 1424.

He wrote a Monito for Lazzaro Guinigi, a Cronaca di Lucca from 1164 to 1424, and a Novelliero. He shows good sense and a noble spirit in the first two works; he is coarse and indecent almost continuously in the other, despite his protests in defense of the good and the punishments of those who do evil. The Novelliero collects tales told by a group of people who fled from Lucca during the plague of 1374: 100 tales divided into 10 days with intermezzi at the end, in a first redaction; 155 not divided into days but linked by intermezzi, in a second redaction; the first touches only on Lucchese events and the pilgrims do not cross Tuscany; the second expands the events to all of Europe, and the pilgrimage to all of Italy.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: A. D'Ancona, Novelle di G. S., Bologna 1871; R. Renier, Novelle inedite di G. S. tratte dal cod. Trivulz. CXCIII, Torino 1889; A. G. Dinucci, G. S. e le sue cronache, in Rass. naz., 2ª serie, luglio-sett. 1927 e luglio-ag. 1928; G. Petrocchi, Il novelliere medievale del S., in Concivium, nuova raccolta, 3 (1949), p. 74 sgg.; A. Chiari, La fortuna del Boccaccio, in Questioni e correnti di st. letter., Milano 1930, pp. 296-99 e 343-46.

Alberto Chiari

@incollection{ec11_sercambi_giovanni, author = {Chiari, Alberto}, title = {Sercambi, giovanni}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XI}, pages = {382}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/sercambi-giovanni} }

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Sercambi, Giovanni

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