Andreuccio di Pietro Character Analysis in The Decameron

Andreuccio di Pietro appears in Fiammetta’s second tale (II, 5). He is a wealthy but inexperienced and naïve horse dealer. He illustrates fortune’s turns: when he travels to Naples for fresh stock, he flashes his purse too many times and falls victim to the Sicilian Woman’s con but escapes being murdered. Then he bumbles into a botched tomb robbery after which his associates leave him for dead in the tomb. But he luckily escapes in possession of a valuable ruby ring. He has a later counterpart in Salabaetto (VIII, 10), who runs into a very similar situation.

Andreuccio di Pietro Quotes in The Decameron

The The Decameron quotes below are all either spoken by Andreuccio di Pietro or refer to Andreuccio di Pietro. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Nature demanded that he should relieve his belly, which was inordinately full, so he asked […] where he could do it, and the boy showed him a door in one of the corners of the room […] Andreuccio passed jauntily through, and chanced to step on to a plank, which came away at its other end from the beam on which it was resting, so that it flew up in the air and fell into the lower regions, taking Andreuccio with it. Although he had fallen from a goodly height, he mercifully suffered no injury; but he got himself daubed from head to foot in the filthy mess with which the place was literally swimming.

Related Characters: Fiammetta (speaker), Andreuccio di Pietro, Sicilian Woman

Related Symbols: Fortune

Page Number and Citation: 103

Explanation and Analysis:

Andreuccio di Pietro Character Timeline in The Decameron

The timeline below shows where the character Andreuccio di Pietro appears in The Decameron. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...happened in the space of one night. Her protagonist is a young Perugian gentleman named Andreuccio di Pietro, a horse dealer by trade. Hearing that there are good horses in Naples,... (full context)

While Andreuccio naively flashes his cash, he catches the attention of a beautiful young Sicilian Woman. She... (full context)

...the old woman from keeping her appointment, the Sicilian Woman sends a servant to convey Andreuccio to her home. When the servant tells Andreuccio that a Neapolitan gentlewoman wants to see... (full context)

The maid brings Andreuccio to a part of town called “Evil Hole” on account of its bad reputation. Not... (full context)

The Sicilian Woman finally explains her strange behavior. She claims that she’s Andreuccio’s half-sister and that her mother—a widowed gentlewoman of Palermo—fell in love with Andreuccio’s father. When... (full context)

Andreuccio believes the Sicilian Woman’s story, both because she speaks with assurance and because her tale... (full context)

When Andreuccio prepares to return to the inn for supper, the Sicilian Woman feigns hurt and insists... (full context)

After undressing for bed, Andreuccio needs to relieve himself, but on his way into the privy, he dislodges a loose... (full context)

Finally beginning to understand that he has been hoodwinked, Andreuccio climbs out of the cesspit and begins to pound on the Sicilian Woman’s door. The... (full context)

Because he smells so bad from falling into the cesspit, Andreuccio makes a detour towards the ocean for a bath. Before he gets there, he encounters... (full context)

On the way to the cathedral, the trio stops at a well for Andreuccio to bathe (since he still stinks). When two night watchmen appear looking for a cool... (full context)

Andreuccio fears that the Tomb Robbers will find a way to deprive him of his loot,... (full context)

Andreuccio grabs the priest’s ankle. He shrieks, scrabbles out, and the second group of robbers flee,... (full context)