# Alessandro Chiarmontesi — The Decameron character guide

> Alessandro Chiarmontesi in The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Alessandro

**First appearance:** 0032-the-fifth-story

## Snapshot

A Florentine suitor so besotted he agrees to impersonate a corpse in a tomb for a night, just to prove his devotion.

## Who they are

Alessandro is one of two young men courting the same Florentine lady, and he is the one reckless enough to accept her grotesque test: climb into the fresh grave of Scannadio, strip the body, and lie in its place until she sends for him. His long interior debate on the way to the tomb — fear of ambush, of mutilation, of being made a fool — reveals a lover whose courage is mostly the product of argument with himself. His willingness to be buried alive for desire makes him the story's comic measure of how far love will push a man.

## In the story

### [The Third Story](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_decameron_se/chapters/the-third-story)

Nephew of the three prodigal brothers; meets the disguised abbot and marries the King of England's daughter.

### [The Seventh Story](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_decameron_se/chapters/the-seventh-story)

Not directly present; the story focuses on Alatiel and her various captors.

### [The First Story](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_decameron_se/chapters/the-first-story)

One of the two Florentine suitors; he enters Scannadio's tomb and is later carried off by Rinuccio.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_decameron_se/characters/alessandro
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_decameron_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_decameron_se/characters