Abstract

The arrival of the Angevin king Charles I (1266) established Naples as the seat of the royal court. At the end of the 13th century, Naples became a world city thanks to the influx of culturally qualified people, and a city populated by fashionable people. This meant the city assumed a linguistic and cultural profile completely different from other areas of the kingdom. The simplistic statement of those who see Neapolitan as the only language spoken by the inhabitants of Naples would be unacceptable even in those times. Not even in the 14th century was Naples a «little place» only for natives. The different urban environments evoked in three novels of the Decameron (II, 5; III, 6; VII, 2) refer to the lively core of city life.