Andreuccio at the Well: Sanitation Infrastructure and Civic Values in Decameron 2.5

Abstract

The Communes of central and northern Italy inscribed the socio-political values of orderly governance and the common good into their sanitation infrastructure. Andreuccio’s Perugian origin implies his affiliation with a preservation-oriented water culture, indicating that his contamination of the Neapolitan well (2.5) may be malicious and reflect his re-estimation of the value of the common good.