Filippo Cornacchini

Filippo Cornacchini is the young, unmarried son of the wealthy Niccolo Cornacchini. In the story of Calandrino’s failed pursuit of Niccolosa, he is both the host who provides the setting for the deception and one of the conspirators who helps make it work. His country house, intended as a magnificent residence and being painted by a team of artists, becomes the stage for a private joke at Calandrino’s expense.

Identity and Setting

Niccolo Cornacchini had a fine estate at Camerata, where he commissioned a magnificent mansion. He entrusted its painting to Bruno and Buffalmacco, who brought in Nello and Calandrino to help with the large undertaking. Since the family was not living there, the furnished house was guarded by an old serving-woman; Filippo, meanwhile, used it as a secluded place for his own diversions.

The story presents him as young and without a wife, with enough freedom to bring women to the estate for a day or two and then send them away. One such guest is Niccolosa, a woman kept by Mangione at Camaldoli and hired out. Filippo’s use of the empty mansion gives the painters access to an encounter that would otherwise have remained outside their workday—and gives him an opportunity to turn their curiosity into a prank.

The Painters’ Deception

When Calandrino sees Niccolosa washing at the courtyard well, he takes her glances and sighs as proof that she has fallen in love with him. He confides his supposed conquest to Bruno, and Filippo becomes part of the response. Bruno already knows who Niccolosa is: Filippo had told him. Rather than correct Calandrino, Bruno tells the others, and they secretly agree to play along and make sport of his infatuation.

Bruno then goes to the courtyard, finds Filippo and Niccolosa, and explains what sort of man Calandrino is. The three arrange what each will say and do. At supper, Filippo helps sustain the appearance that Niccolosa’s attention is genuine: he pretends to converse with the others and pay no heed to the pair, while in fact taking amusement in Calandrino’s conspicuous ogling and grimaces. Once the painters leave, Bruno encourages Calandrino to believe that Niccolosa is deeply affected by him.

The Trap at the Mansion

The deception moves from flirtation to a staged private encounter. Nello, though Calandrino suspects him, is also in on the joke. He goes to Florence and tells Calandrino’s wife, Tessa, that her husband has fallen in love with a woman at the estate and arranged to meet her that day. When Tessa sets out for the mansion, Bruno spots her approaching and alerts Filippo.

Filippo responds by going to the workers and announcing that he must leave for Florence, then hides where he can watch without being seen. His departure is a performance: it makes the courtyard appear clear while allowing him to observe what follows. Calandrino approaches Niccolosa, who acts according to the plan, draws him into the barn, and throws him onto the straw. Filippo watches with Bruno and Buffalmacco as Niccolosa keeps Calandrino at a distance and feigns extravagant affection.

Narrative Role

Filippo’s importance lies less in the pursuit itself than in his control of its setting and his cooperation in the deception. The mansion he uses for private visits is also the worksite where Calandrino’s vanity becomes entertainment for the painters. By helping Niccolosa and Bruno stage the encounter—and by concealing himself to watch—Filippo turns an imagined romance into a trap.

The prank’s exposure reverses the scene’s apparent intimacy: when Tessa arrives and breaks into the barn, Niccolosa flees to Filippo, while Tessa attacks Calandrino, who is still lying on the straw. Filippo’s role thus links the secret arrangement at the country house to its public consequence in the household Calandrino has neglected. The episode casts him as a knowing, amused accomplice, not as the object of Niccolosa’s attention or the target of the trick.