Ciutazza

Ciutazza, also called Ciuta, is Madam Piccarda’s serving-wench in the story told by Emilia. She becomes the unlikely instrument of her mistress’s defense against the rector of Fiesole: in a darkened bedroom, she takes the place of the woman he hopes to seduce, then helps expose his presumptuous pursuit before the bishop and the household. Her part is brief, but the story’s reversal depends on her presence. The rector believes he has reached his desired bed; instead, the woman in his arms is the servant he has mistaken for his mistress.

Identity and Circumstances

Ciutazza is described as no longer young and strikingly ill-favored. The narrator itemizes a flattened nose, a crooked mouth, thick lips, badly set teeth, a squint, sore eyes, a greenish-yellow complexion, and a crooked, uneven stance. The story makes her appearance a source of coarse comedy, even associating her complexion with a place known for malaria. These details establish how sharply she contrasts with the young, beautiful widow the rector desires. They also make the mistaken identity part of the farce: in the darkness, the rector does not see the face of the person he embraces.

Her name begins as Ciuta and becomes Ciutazza, a form that the tale links to her appearance. The narrator nevertheless gives her a trait beyond the physical caricature: despite her misshapen appearance, she has a touch of roguishness. The story does not develop her life outside the household or disclose her feelings about her position. What it does show is a servant whose labor and body can be enlisted in her mistress’s scheme, and who negotiates a specific reward for taking part.

The Bedroom Stratagem

Madam Piccarda’s problem begins when the old, arrogant rector presses his love upon her despite her refusal. She presents herself as unwilling to become his lover and then, after appearing to reconsider, arranges a meeting at her home. The arrangement takes account of the household’s layout: her two young brothers sleep in a room close to hers, and even a whisper might carry between the chambers. Darkness and silence are therefore essential to the plan.

Ciutazza accepts the role after Madam Piccarda offers her a fine new shift. Her mistress instructs her to lie in the bed, caress the man who comes, and say nothing, so that the brothers will not hear. Ciutazza agrees readily. When the rector arrives, he enters the room without a word and in the dark, goes to the bed as instructed, and embraces Ciutazza, believing her to be Madam Piccarda. She kisses him in return and keeps silent while he proceeds, under his mistaken impression, to take possession of the woman he has long desired.

Exposure and Consequences

While the rector is in the bedroom, Madam Piccarda’s brothers carry the next part of the plan into effect. They leave the house and encounter the bishop, who has come seeking them so he can visit and drink with them. After entertaining him in their courtyard, they invite him to see something inside. One brother leads the way with a lighted torch; the bishop and the others follow. The rector, who has hurried through the encounter and is tired, has fallen asleep beside Ciutazza despite the heat.

The light and the assembled company wake him. He sees the people surrounding the bed, hides his head under the bedclothes, and is made by the bishop to look at the woman beside him. The disguise has worked not by changing Ciutazza but by controlling what the rector can see: darkness first sustains his assumption, and the torchlit gathering destroys it. Once he understands the trick, he is overwhelmed by shame. At the bishop’s order he dresses and is escorted home under guard, where he must do penance for his offense.

Reward and Narrative Function

After hearing the brothers’ account, the bishop commends Madam Piccarda and her brothers for punishing the rector without resorting to violence against a priest. He orders the rector to lament his offense for forty days. His humiliation lasts longer in the story’s social aftermath: for a great while, children point him out and identify him by the night he spent with Ciutazza. The failed pursuit thus brings both formal penance and continuing public ridicule.

Ciutazza’s outcome is less punitive and more material. She receives the promised shift and, in the narrator’s comic closing contrast, enjoys a merry night. The ending places her alongside Madam Piccarda as a beneficiary of the stratagem, although their positions and gains differ: the widow escapes the rector’s importunity, while the serving-wench receives clothing for her cooperation. Ciutazza does not speak during the encounter itself; her silence is the condition that makes the deception work. The tale turns that imposed silence into practical leverage, using her presence to expose a man who assumes he can obtain the woman he wants without consequence.