A network graph shows the connection or relationship between a number of things, like authors and books or people and places, which are represented as nodes. The relationship itself is represented by edges or the lines connecting these nodes.
The network graph below shows some of the real and imaginary places that are referenced alongside Florence in the Decameron at different levels of the narrative. The purple nodes indicate places that are real and can be found on a map. The green nodes indicate imaginary places, or places that Boccaccio created and inserted into the Decameron. The orange edges or lines indicate that the places are referenced together in the floatingText, or rather parts of the narrative in which the frame characters were beginning to tell their story. The red edges or lines indicate that the places are referenced together in the frame itself, outside of the storytelling. Finally, the light blue edges or lines indicate that the places are referenced together in the novellas.
It is evident that Boccaccio focused primarily on real places although he did add some imaginary places as one can see from the network graph. It is also no surprise that many of the places in the text are found in Italy, as the story is originally in Italian and the setting of the frame narrative is Florence. Most of the places are mentioned together in the novellas, indicating that the storytellers are telling stories that are somewhat culturally diverse at times as with the mention of places like India, Egypt, and Constantinople. It also seems that the setting and places are important in the novellas rather than in the frame narrative. There are only a few instances where places are mentioned together in the frame and the floating text where the storytellers are beginning their stories, which are indicated in the network graph by the red and orange lines. What we can gather from this is that the setting is most important in the novellas and less so in the frame narrative because the storytellers have escaped to the Florentine countryside to avoid the plague and are therefore stationary whereas the characters in their stories are more active and travelling around.
