Lamporecchio

Lamporecchio is the home town that frames the rise and return of Masetto of Lamporecchio in the convent story. Nuto comes back there after abandoning his poorly paid gardening work, and his account of the convent gives Masetto the opportunity he seeks; years later, Masetto returns to the place from which he had set out with an axe about his neck, now rich and a father.

Home and Point of Departure

Nuto, formerly gardener at a convent of women, returns to Lamporecchio after settling his accounts with the convent’s bailiff. He tells those who welcome him home that he had tended the convent’s garden, gathered firewood, drawn water, and done other small services, but had been paid so little that he could scarcely afford shoes. His complaint makes the town a point of return after unsatisfactory service elsewhere, and brings news of the vacancy back to the community.

Masetto of Lamporecchio hears Nuto’s account and becomes eager to take his place. He hides his interest from Nuto, knowing that revealing his purpose might frustrate it, and considers how to gain entry to the convent despite the risk that his youth and good looks will make him unacceptable. Lamporecchio is thus also the setting for the beginning of his plan: the opportunity arises through a returning townsman’s report, and Masetto’s departure begins a journey away from the precarious circumstances marked by the axe he carries.

Return and Change of Fortune

After years at the convent, Masetto grows old and wishes to return home rich. The arrangement he made with the nuns had allowed him to remain there and eventually become bailiff, with his workload apportioned so that he could endure it. The story says that the arrangement remained discreetly concealed until after the abbess’s death; once it became known, Masetto could readily accomplish his wish to return.

His return reverses the conditions of his departure. He comes back to Lamporecchio wealthy and a father, without the burden or expense of raising children, and the tale closes with his claim that this is how Christ treats those who wear horns. The town therefore bookends his transformation: it is where he learns of the convent position and where he ends his life of service with the material reward and family status he has secured.