Messer Lizio da Valbona

Messer Lizio da Valbona is the watchful father whose discovery of Caterina and Ricciardo Manardi transforms a secret night together into a marriage. His response combines anger at a breach of trust with a practical concern for his daughter’s future and family honor; instead of allowing the encounter to end in violence or disgrace, he compels Ricciardo to marry her and then welcomes him as a son-in-law.

Identity and Family

Lizio is introduced as a gentleman of Romagna, a man of worth and good breeding who is already well advanced in age when Caterina is born to him and his wife, Madam Giacomina. Caterina is the only child remaining to her parents. They cherish her deeply and guard her with exceptional diligence, while also hoping to make a distinguished alliance through her marriage. This combination of affection, surveillance, and family ambition defines the household in which the romance takes shape.

Lizio’s authority is not merely a background obstacle. Caterina is watched closely enough that she and Ricciardo must devise a risky way to meet, and the discovery of their intimacy immediately places her father in a position to determine what happens next. The story presents his protection as both parental care and control: he seeks a suitable future for his daughter, but his expectations also restrict her freedom to pursue the person she loves.

A Trusted Young Man Becomes a Suitor

Ricciardo, a handsome and spirited young man of the Manardi family of Brettinoro, frequently visits Lizio’s house. Lizio and Madam Giacomina treat him as they would a son, a familiarity that allows him to remain near Caterina but makes his secret love a breach of personal as well as household trust. Caterina returns his love, and the two arrange a meeting in the gallery adjoining her father’s garden.

To reach her, Ricciardo climbs a wall with a ladder, then makes his way along the projecting stonework of another wall, at considerable effort and risk. The lovers spend much of the night together. Exhausted and uncovered, they fall asleep in an embrace, with Caterina’s arm around Ricciardo’s neck and her other hand holding him. Their unguarded posture leaves no room for an innocent explanation when morning comes.

Discovery and Confrontation

Lizio rises, remembering that Caterina has slept in the gallery, and quietly opens the door from his chamber. He lifts the bed curtain and recognizes Ricciardo beside his daughter. Rather than waking them or immediately confronting the young man, he returns to fetch Madam Giacomina and lets her see the scene as well. His playful description of Caterina having caught the nightingale turns the lovers’ erotic encounter into a joke whose meaning the parents can see for themselves.

Madam Giacomina is angry and feels that Ricciardo has deceived her. Lizio restrains her from crying out or railing at him. He points out that Ricciardo is young, rich, and gently born, and reasons that the young man can become a good son-in-law. The humor of the nightingale image does not erase the seriousness of the discovery; it gives Lizio a way to contain the confrontation before it becomes a public scandal.

Marriage as Settlement

When Ricciardo wakes and realizes that daylight has exposed him, he fears for his life and asks Lizio for mercy. Lizio acknowledges that the young man has repaid the family’s affection and trust badly. Yet he offers a specific way to repair the wrong: Ricciardo must take Caterina as his lawful wife, so that the woman who was his during the night will remain his throughout her life. Refusal, he warns, will leave Ricciardo to face the consequences of his conduct.

Caterina weeps and asks her father to pardon Ricciardo; she also urges Ricciardo to accept, so that their love can continue without the same danger. Ricciardo agrees without hesitation, moved by his love for her, his desire to make amends, and his fear of death. Lizio borrows a ring from Madam Giacomina, and Ricciardo takes Caterina as his wife in the parents’ presence. The scene therefore turns discovery directly into a marriage pledge, rather than separating the lovers or leaving their union concealed.

A few days later, Ricciardo marries Caterina again in the presence of their friends and relatives, then brings her with ceremony to his own home. Lizio and Ricciardo subsequently confer on more orderly terms, and the young couple live in peace and comfort. The movement from private pledge to public wedding completes Lizio’s settlement: Caterina’s relationship is made socially acknowledged, and Ricciardo’s place in the family is restored in a new form.

Narrative Role and Significance

The story is presented by Filostrato as a short, comic love tale, offered after complaints that earlier stories had been too sorrowful. Lizio is essential to its comic reversal. The dangerous ascent to the gallery and the lovers’ exposed sleep create the prospect of punishment; the father’s quiet inspection, bawdy wit, and insistence on marriage redirect that danger toward a happy ending.

His decision is neither simple indulgence nor unqualified approval. Lizio names Ricciardo’s conduct as a betrayal, yet chooses marriage as the remedy because it can protect Caterina from lasting dishonor and convert a familiar young visitor into a legitimate member of the household. His threat makes the choice coercive for Ricciardo, while Caterina’s plea and evident wish to remain with him support the union. The ending preserves both the story’s erotic playfulness and its concern with family recognition: the nightingale that first signifies a secret sexual conquest becomes part of a marriage secured in the parents’ presence and celebrated among kin.