Landolfo Ruffolo

Landolfo Ruffolo’s story turns on a succession of reversals: a rich merchant nearly ruins himself by seeking still greater wealth, recovers his losses through piracy, and then survives shipwreck to return home richer than before. In the account told by Lauretta, his course from Ravello through Cyprus and the sea lanes of the Archipelago makes fortune at once destructive and unexpectedly restorative; his final caution and generosity distinguish the man who comes home from the one who first put everything at risk.

Identity and First Reversal

Landolfo is introduced as a man of Ravello, a town on the Amalfi Side, where commerce and wealth flourish. Already exceedingly rich, he judges his existing fortune insufficient and buys a great ship, loads it with merchandise purchased entirely with his own money, and sails to Cyprus. There he finds other ships carrying goods of the same kind and quality. The crowded market forces him to sell at a heavy loss, and disposing of the cargo at all requires him almost to give it away. In a short time, the merchant who had set out wealthy is brought close to poverty.

The loss is not simply an unlucky trade: it exposes the danger in Landolfo’s desire to multiply what he already possesses. Rather than accept a poor return home, he resolves either to die or to repair his losses by taking other people’s goods. Selling his large ship and adding what remains from his merchandise, he buys a smaller vessel suited to cruising, equips it for that purpose, and turns to plunder, especially of Turkish ships.

From Merchant to Raider

Fortune proves kinder to Landolfo in piracy than it had in commerce. Over the next several years, he captures enough Turkish vessels to recover what he lost and more than double his former wealth. The reversal restores his means, but the memory of his earlier loss changes his judgment. Deciding that he has enough, he resolves not to risk another misfortune for the sake of further gain.

He does not return to trading or seek another way to invest his money. Instead, he sets out for home in the same small vessel that brought him his fortune, rowing across the water. This choice marks a sharp contrast with his first voyage: then he had risked his entire fortune in a bid to enlarge it; now he is intent on carrying what he has safely back to Ravello.

Shipwreck and Rescue

Landolfo has reached the Archipelago when a violent south-east wind rises one evening. It opposes his course and raises a sea his small vessel cannot withstand, so he takes shelter in a cove formed by a little island. Two large Genoese carracks, coming from Constantinople, enter the same harbor to escape the storm. Their crews recognize the small ship as Landolfo’s and know by report that he is rich. They block his way out and prepare to seize it.

After the shipwreck, a woman on shore finds Landolfo in the water, his arms spread over the chest. She enters the now-calm sea, takes him by the hair, and drags him ashore with the chest. At her hut she warms and bathes him until his strength returns, gives him wine and confections, and tends him for several days. She keeps the chest safe while he recovers, then returns it when she judges he can continue on his way. The rescue preserves both his life and the fortune he does not yet know the chest contains.

The Chest and the Return Home

Landolfo has forgotten the chest and accepts it thinking it may be worth enough to pay his expenses for a few days. Its lightness disappoints him. While his hostess is away, however, he opens Landolfo Ruffolo’s coffer of jewels and discovers precious stones, both set and unset. He recognizes their value and takes comfort that God has not forsaken him. Twice cruelly baffled by fortune in a short time, he is now afraid of a third reversal and resolves to bring the stones home with great care.

Rather than reveal what he has found, Landolfo tells the woman he no longer needs the chest and asks her for a bag, offering the chest in exchange. She agrees. He thanks her for her kindness, carries the bag away, and sails by bark to Brindisi before travelling along the coast to Trani. There, townsmen from Ravello who are drapers give him clothes after hearing his adventures, though he tells them nothing about the jewels. They also lend him a horse and send him home under escort.

Only when he believes himself safe at Ravello does Landolfo examine the stones more carefully. Sold at a fair price, or even for less, they would make him twice as rich as when he first departed. He arranges to dispose of the jewels, sends a substantial sum to the woman in Corfu who rescued him, and sends another sum to the people of Trani who clothed and escorted him. He keeps the rest and lives in honour and esteem for the remainder of his life.

Fortune, Prudence, and Reciprocity

Landolfo’s changes of circumstance give the story its governing rhythm: commercial loss leads to piracy and renewed wealth; a decision to stop and return home is followed by storm, capture, and shipwreck; apparent destitution is overturned by the jewels preserved in the chest. The same desire for more that nearly ruins him at the start gives way, after repeated reversals, to a resolve to safeguard what he has.

His final actions also turn survival into reciprocity. The woman’s care saves him when he is helpless, and the drapers of Trani help him reach home without knowing the full value of what he carries. Once secure, he repays both kindnesses with money. His story therefore ends not with another attempt to enlarge his fortune, but with a return to Ravello, material security, and a lasting acknowledgment of those who helped him.