Boccaccio is best known for The Decameron, a collection of 100 tales told by ten young people sheltering from the Black Death. His work is celebrated for its realistic portrayal of human character and its celebration of wit and pleasure. Along with Petrarch and Dante, he is considered one of the 'Three Crowns' of Italian literature. His writing helped establish the Tuscan dialect as a literary standard and influenced writers like Chaucer and Shakespeare.