This study examines how translations and novellas shaped representations of work in medieval literature, particularly in 13th- and 14th-century Tuscany. Translations opened access to everyday commercial life through the lexicons of urban professions, which were often included organically in expositions of the time. The novellas, on the other hand, offered an image of working activity that was effective primarily on the connotative level, as in the case of Boccaccio’s Decameron. Representations of work evolved over time: through translations and novellas, we can see how the profession of the lavorante – the worker employed in workshops – takes on an increasing large space in 14th-century literature. To this end, attention is turned to the Florentine text of Iacopo da Varazze’s Legenda Aurea and Franco Sacchetti’s Trecento Novelle.