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- Calandrino is a beloved character from Giovanni Boccaccio's the Decameron, in which he appears as a character in four stories. In these tales he is the victim of the pranks of Bruno and Buffalmacco. Calandrino was a historical person, an Italian Renaissance painter named Nozzo di Perino who lived in the fourteenth century. Whether he really was the simpleton portrayed by Boccaccio in his work is unknown, but common belief is that he was a bit gullible. It is unclear whether this belief arose because of the popularity of the Decameron, or whether it was already popular belief when Boccaccio wrote the tales. In each of the tales in which Calandrino is a character (VIII, 3; VIII, 6; IX, 3; IX, 5), he is portrayed as a simpleton who believes in the folk magic of the time period. In the first tale (VIII, 3), the three painters hunt for heliotropes, and Calandrino believes that by finding one he is rendered invisible. Bruno and Buffalmacco, his friends and fellow painters, pretend they don't see him and kick rocks at him all the way back to Florence, where he arrives bruised. In the second tale (VIII, 6) Bruno and Buffalmacco subject him to a medieval version of a polygraph test. According to common belief at the time, a person who is lying wouldn't be able to swallow the prepared bread and cheese when under examination. However, Bruno and Buffalmacco sour the cheese with dog ginger, a very bitter herb which Calandrino then spits out. This convinces his friends that he is lying about a pig of his being stolen (which in reality they had taken). Calandrino is convinced that he is pregnant in story IX, 3. To give him a painless miscarriage he takes a potion that is specially prepared by his friends, Bruno and Buffalmacco. Finally, tale IX, 5 is a story in which Boccaccio uses the Calandrino character to ridicule the folk magic of his time period. To gain a woman's affections, Calandrino casts a spell and prepares a potion from a scroll supplied by Bruno. The potion contains all sorts of absurd ingredients and the scroll is filled with gibberish. When his wife discovers his intentions, she beats Calandrino.
- Personaggio realmente esistito, ma è più noto come il protagonista di alcune novelle nel Decamerone, inquadrato come personaggio sciocco e credulone che presume di essere molto furbo e per questo viene deriso dagli amici Bruno e Buffalmacco; ma anche molto cattivo e determinato nel raggiungimento dei suoi scopi. Da qui si può notare la bravura di Boccaccio nella scelta del nome che poi rispecchierà il carattere del personaggio, infatti: calandrino è il diminuitivo di calandro, uccello dello stesso ordine delle allodole, che, secondo la credenza popolare, è considerato balordo. "Calandrino" o "gualandrino" - come talvolta è ricordato in alcuni inventari - è altresì uno strumento usato comunemente in varie arti o mestieri: simile nella forma ad un compasso serviva, e serve tuttora col nome di "seste", per rapportare le distanze. A Firenze si dice ancor oggi di una persona con le gambe magre che cammina a grandi falcate, senza quindi piegare le ginocchia, "ha du'gambe che paion du'seste"; e forse il soprannome di Calandrino era dovuto al suo aspetto ed al suo modo di incedere.
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