Ancona

Ancona is a turning point in Tedaldo Elisei’s story, first giving him a route away from Florence and into a new commercial life, then serving as the staging point for his return. The city links his years of self-imposed absence to the events that bring him back into the life he had left behind.

Ancona in Tedaldo’s Exile

After the married Ermellina withdrew from him, Tedaldo left Florence secretly, carrying what money he could obtain. He came to Ancona under the assumed name Filippo di Sanlodeccio, met a wealthy merchant, and entered his service. From there he accompanied the merchant by ship to Cyprus, where his diligence and conduct won him a good wage, a share in the business, and responsibility for much of its affairs.

The Return Route

Years later, having become a prosperous and well-regarded merchant, Tedaldo arranged his affairs and travelled with one servant back to Ancona, bringing his wealth with him. He sent it onward to Florence through a friend of his Anconese partner, while he followed secretly in the disguise of a pilgrim. Ancona thus marks both the beginning of his reinvention abroad and the point from which he separates his commercial return from his concealed personal return.

Narrative Significance

The two journeys give Ancona a precise role in the story’s geography: it is neither Tedaldo’s lost home nor his final destination, but the threshold between them. On the outward journey, it opens onto work, prosperity, and seven years of restraint; on the return, it becomes the place where he dispatches his accumulated goods ahead while keeping his own identity and movements hidden. The city’s importance lies in this contrast between the visible transfer of wealth and the disguised return of the man himself.