Isabella and the Pot of Basil

The tragic love story of Isabella and Lorenzo has origins in oral folk tradition, but is better known for Bocaccio's medieval version in the "Decameron" (ca.1350-53). Daughter of noble lineage, Isabella falls in love with Lorenzo, a poor apprentice of her brothers. Once they discover their hidden romance, the brothers murder Lorenzo and hide his body. The ghost of the deceased appears to Isabella in a dream and leads her to his corpse, where she severs the head and buries it in her pot of basil, watered with her tears. Confused by their sister's obsession, the brothers steal the pot, find the severed head, and decide to flee Florence. Isabella later dies of a broken heart.