The
Storia della letteratura italiana consists of the following 20 chapters (the last two are somewhat shorter and less in-depth, due to pressure the publisher put on De Sanctis to complete the work): • Volume I • I–II – Sicilian and Tuscan literature • III (
Lirica di Dante) – poetry of
Dante Alighieri • IV – 13th century poetry • V ("Mysteries and visions") – primitive chivalry literature and Holy Bible • VI – 14th century • VII (
La Commedia) – Dante's influence • VIII –
Petrarch's
Il Canzoniere • IX –
Giovanni Boccaccio's
Decameron • X (
Il trecentista) –
Franco Sacchetti's work • XI (
Le stanze) – 15th century (
Leon Battista Alberti,
Angelo Poliziano,
Lorenzo il Magnifico,
Luigi Pulci,
Matteo Maria Boiardo,
Giovanni Pontano) • XII – 16th century • Volume II • XIII –
Ludovico Ariosto's ''
L'Orlando furioso'' • XIV –
Teofilo Folengo • XV –
Machiavelli and
Francesco Guicciardini • XVI –
Pietro Aretino • XVII –
Torquato Tasso • XVIII –
Giambattista Marino and the
Academy of Arcadia • XIX (
La nuova scienza) –
Metastasio,
Carlo Goldoni,
Giuseppe Parini,
Vittorio Alfieri,
ugo Foscolo and
Alessandro Manzoni