Marseilles

Marseilles is the wealthy coastal setting at the opening of the story of Ninetta, Maddalena, and Bertella. The city’s mercantile prosperity frames the family’s position, while the sisters’ secret departure turns it into the starting point of a voyage that carries them first to Genoa and then to Crete.

Setting and Commercial Character

Marseilles is described as an ancient and noble city in Provence, situated on the seashore. Although it was less prosperous than it had once been, it had formerly been especially abundant in wealthy and influential merchants. This description places the story in a commercial coastal community whose fortunes are connected to travel and trade.

Narnald Cluada’s Household

Among Marseilles’s merchants is Narnald Cluada, a man of humble birth but renowned for good faith and loyalty, and immensely wealthy in land and money. He has several children, including three daughters: Ninetta and Maddalena, twins aged fifteen, and Bertella, aged fourteen. While Narnald is away in Spain on business, the sisters’ romantic lives develop beyond his knowledge. Ninetta and Restagnone, a young man of gentle birth but little means, have already arranged secret meetings; Folco and Ughetto, both wealthy young men, fall in love with Maddalena and Bertella.

Departure and Narrative Significance

Marseilles is the point from which the sisters’ household is abruptly left behind. Ninetta encourages her sisters to join the plan to escape with their lovers, and, on the appointed night, the three take a great quantity of money and jewels from their father’s coffer. They meet Restagnone, Folco, and Ughetto and board a brigantine. The group reaches Genoa the following evening, then continues from port to port, arriving in Crete before the eighth day. In the tale’s geography, Marseilles thus marks the beginning of a movement from a wealthy merchant household into a shared life abroad.