Federigo degli Alberighi and Giovanna's Marriage after Her Esteem for Him

Federigo degli Alberighi and Giovanna's Marriage after Her Esteem for Him develops from a costly, unreturned courtship into a union made possible by Madam Giovanna’s changed judgment of Federigo. The falcon at the center of their story is both his last possession and the unplanned offering that reveals the quality she eventually prizes: when wealth is gone, his capacity for courtesy remains.

Courtship and the Loss of Fortune

Federigo is introduced as a gentleman renowned for arms and courtesy. He falls in love with Madam Giovanna, who is regarded as one of the fairest and liveliest women of her day. To win her affection, he holds jousts and tournaments, gives entertainments and presents, and spends his substance without restraint. Madam Giovanna does not return his attention. His expenditures bring him no closer to her, and his wealth is gradually exhausted.

Reduced to a small farm whose returns provide a meager living, Federigo bears his poverty patiently. He lives there without asking anyone for help, hawking when he can, with Federigo’s falcon as his remaining comfort and one of the best birds in the world. The change in his circumstances sharpens the contrast between the man who once entertained many people and the poor host he will later become. His attachment to Madam Giovanna has not diminished with his fortune, but the practices by which he once displayed it are no longer available to him.

The Visit and the Falcon

After Madam Giovanna’s husband dies, she spends the summer with her son at an estate near Federigo’s farm. Her son grows fond of Federigo and his falcon, and, as the boy falls ill, he asks his mother to obtain the bird for him. Madam Giovanna knows that Federigo loves her and that the falcon sustains him; she hesitates to ask for it, but her concern for her son finally outweighs her reluctance. She promises to visit Federigo herself and bring the falcon back.

Madam Giovanna arrives with a companion and courteously tells Federigo that she has come to make amends for the suffering his love for her once caused by dining with him. He receives her gracious visit as a greater honor than the money he had spent in his prosperous days. But he then realizes that he has nothing suitable with which to entertain her. Unwilling to ask his laborer or anyone else for help, he sees Federigo’s falcon and decides that it is worthy of the lady. He has it killed and prepared for the meal, sets the table with the fine cloths he still owns, and serves it without telling her what she is eating.

Only after the meal does Madam Giovanna explain why she came. She asks for the falcon because her son is so enamored of it that she fears his illness may worsen if she cannot take it to him. She frames her request as a mother’s plea and appeals to Federigo’s nobility, while acknowledging that the bird is precious to him and that poverty has left him few other pleasures. His generosity has already made the request impossible: he has given her the falcon in the form of dinner before learning that she wanted it alive.

A Gift That Changes Her Judgment

Federigo weeps before answering. Madam Giovanna initially takes his tears for grief at the prospect of losing the bird and nearly withdraws her request. He explains that he cannot grant it because he has had it roasted for her, and shows her the feathers, feet, and beak as proof. His anguish is not simply the loss of his last valued possession. He is distressed that the request came when he could no longer fulfill it, and that the guest he once hoped to honor through abundance has arrived only after poverty has taken away his means.

Madam Giovanna first reproaches him for killing so fine a falcon merely to serve a woman. Yet she also inwardly admires the greatness of spirit that his poverty has not diminished. The encounter joins an act of hospitality to an irreversible loss: Federigo cannot give her what she asked for, but his effort to honor her gives her direct evidence of the generosity she had not recognized during his years of display. The falcon does not cure her son. Within days the boy dies; the account leaves open whether this follows from his disappointment at not receiving the bird or from the course of his illness.

Choosing a Husband

Madam Giovanna is left grieving, but also very rich and still young. Her brothers urge her to marry again. Though she would prefer to remain as she is, she agrees to consider remarriage on one condition: she will take no husband but Federigo. Her brothers ridicule the choice because he has nothing in the world. She answers with the distinction that defines the conclusion of their relationship: "I would liefer have a man that lacketh of riches than riches that lack of a man."

Her choice reverses the terms of their earlier courtship. Federigo had spent his fortune in pursuit of a woman who did not respond to his gifts; now Madam Giovanna, with wealth and the authority to choose, values the man whose substance has vanished. Her brothers know Federigo to be a man of great merit despite his poverty, and give her to him with all her wealth. The marriage thus depends both on her expressed preference and on her family’s consent, rather than on the status or fortune that had once appeared to separate them.

Marriage and the Story’s Reversal

Federigo becomes a better steward of his substance after the marriage, and he and Madam Giovanna live together in joy and contentment until the end of their days. The tale does not restore his earlier wealth as the measure of his worth; instead, it gives him a lasting partnership after his generosity has been recognized. His first attempt to win Madam Giovanna through costly display leaves him poor and unrequited. The falcon, sacrificed without knowledge of her request, finally makes his character legible to her. Their marriage turns the failed gift into the beginning of a relationship in which esteem, choice, and shared happiness replace the distance of the original courtship.