Lazzerino de' Guazzagliotri

Lazzerino de' Guazzagliotri is a noble and handsome young man of Prato whose affair with Madam Filippa places her in danger under the city’s harsh adultery statute. He is known in the story chiefly through the consequences of their relationship: discovered with her, he becomes the focus of her unwavering attachment and the occasion for her public confrontation with the law.

Identity and Place in the Story

Lazzerino is identified as a noble youth of Prato, described as both handsome and loved by Madam Filippa as dearly as herself. The account gives no independent family history, prior actions, or personal explanation of the affair. His characterization is therefore relational: his importance lies in the bond Filippa openly acknowledges and the peril that bond brings upon her.

The Affair and Its Discovery

The statute in force at Prato treated a wife found in adultery as liable to be burned, without distinguishing her from a woman who had sold sexual favors. While that law remained in force, Rinaldo de' Pugliesi found Filippa in her own chamber in Lazzerino’s arms. The account presents the encounter as a discovery of an existing love affair, not as a seduction or a deception initiated by Lazzerino; it supplies no further account of his conduct during the discovery.

The Legal Threat to Madam Filippa

Rinaldo was enraged and scarcely restrained himself from killing the pair, but feared the consequences to himself if he acted on his anger. Instead, he sought the death of his wife through the law, brought an accusation with evidence he considered sufficient, and summoned her before the provost. Lazzerino thus stands at the center of a prosecution directed against Filippa: the statute’s lethal penalty makes their private relationship a public legal crisis.

Narrative Role and Outcome

Filippa’s response defines Lazzerino’s role in the episode. Although friends and relatives urged her to deny the accusation, she chose to appear and speak truthfully, preferring to face death rather than flee into exile and disavow the man whose arms she had shared. The story presents her answer as prompt and effective: she escapes the threatened death and brings about a modification of the statute. Lazzerino is the occasion for this confrontation, but the account does not describe his own defense, punishment, or later life.