Calandrino—Niccolosa

Calandrino—Niccolosa is a comic relationship founded on misreading and performance rather than mutual love. At a country mansion in Camerata, Calandrino takes Niccolosa’s teasing glances for passionate interest; with help from Bruno, Buffalmacco, Filippo, and Nello, that mistaken belief is cultivated until it ends in a staged encounter and a humiliating confrontation with Calandrino’s wife.

Setting and Circumstances

Niccolosa enters the story at a mansion belonging to the wealthy townsman Niccolo Cornacchini. Bruno and Buffalmacco have agreed to paint the house, and Nello and Calandrino join them in the work. Because the household is not living at the estate, Filippo, Niccolo’s young son, sometimes brings women there for amusement and keeps them for a day or two. Niccolosa is one of these women; the story says that Mangione keeps her at his disposal and hires her out. She is not presented as Filippo’s wife, although Calandrino later invokes that possibility when trying to explain himself to Tessa.

The relationship begins in the mansion’s courtyard, not through a declared courtship. At noon Niccolosa comes from her chamber in a white petticoat, her hair twisted up, and goes to wash at the well. Calandrino arrives for water and greets her familiarly. She returns the greeting and looks him over because he strikes her as an odd fellow, not because she is attracted to him. Calandrino, however, finds her handsome and lingers instead of taking the water back to his companions. Her occasional glances and little sighs are part of the amusement she is making of him; he interprets them as signs of desire.

A Courtship Built on Misreading

Calandrino quickly becomes convinced that Niccolosa has fallen in love with him. He tells Bruno that she is exceptionally beautiful and claims that he noticed her passion when he went to fetch water. Even when Bruno raises the possibility that she is Filippo’s wife, Calandrino dismisses the complication and boasts of his desire. The gap between what he imagines and what has actually happened drives the affair: Niccolosa has offered only the attention required to amuse herself, while Calandrino supplies an entire romance in his own mind.

Bruno knows who Niccolosa is and has been told about her by Filippo. Instead of correcting Calandrino, he shares the supposed love affair with Nello and Buffalmacco, and the three arrange to make a game of it. Bruno privately tells Filippo what Calandrino believes; Filippo agrees to play along. When Calandrino next sees Niccolosa, Bruno confirms that she is the woman he thinks and invites him to send a message. Calandrino dictates an extravagant offer of gifts and service, which Bruno undertakes to convey. At supper, Niccolosa deliberately behaves in ways intended to inflame Calandrino, while Filippo pretends not to notice his attention. The performance convinces Calandrino that his courtship is progressing.

Two Months of Encouragement

Bruno and Buffalmacco keep the deception going for a good two months, even as the painting work approaches completion. Calandrino repeatedly abandons his work to look for Niccolosa at the window, door, or courtyard. Bruno carries messages in her name and brings letters that pretend to come from her; they give Calandrino hope while explaining away why he cannot meet her. Niccolosa is usually absent when he seeks her, which allows the invented correspondence to sustain the fantasy without producing a real encounter.

The deception also extracts small gifts and hospitality from Calandrino. Under the pretext that Niccolosa wants them, he gives the others such things as an ivory comb, a purse, and a knife. In return, they supply worthless counterfeit rings, which he prizes as tokens of her affection, and accept dainty refreshments and other favors for their supposed assistance. The exchange makes his imagined romance materially useful to the conspirators: his gifts and treats pay for the continued performance, while the sham rings make the fiction seem tangible to him.

The Barn and the Exposure

As the work nears completion, Calandrino worries that his chance will disappear unless the affair advances. Bruno tells him that Niccolosa has repeatedly promised to grant his wishes but has led him on, then offers to make her comply whether she wants to or not. Calandrino eagerly agrees. Bruno supplies a further deception: he requests virgin parchment, a live bat, frankincense, and a blessed candle, then writes invented characters on the parchment and presents it as a charm that will make Niccolosa follow Calandrino. Calandrino catches a bat during the night and brings it, with the other requested materials, to Bruno.

The conspirators arrange the encounter while also ensuring that Tessa will arrive. Nello tells her that Calandrino has fallen for another woman and plans to meet her that day, presenting the plot as an opportunity to avenge the beating Calandrino once gave her after his excursion to the Mugnone. Tessa believes him and sets out with a young maid. Meanwhile, Filippo pretends to leave for Florence but hides nearby so he can watch. Calandrino touches Niccolosa with the supposed charm; she then draws him into the barn, shuts the door, and pushes him down onto the straw. Her gestures continue the false seduction, but she keeps him from kissing her. Bruno, Buffalmacco, and Filippo watch and listen.

Nello brings Tessa to the barn as Calandrino is still trying to kiss Niccolosa. Tessa bursts through the door and finds Niccolosa astride him. Niccolosa escapes to join Filippo, while Tessa scratches Calandrino’s face, pulls him about by the hair, and berates him. Calandrino makes no resistance. To excuse himself, he claims that the woman was the master of the house’s wife, although that claim does not match the earlier account of Niccolosa. Bruno and Buffalmacco arrive with Filippo and Niccolosa, pretending to have been drawn by the noise, and help quiet Tessa.

Meaning and Outcome of the Relationship

The episode never turns the supposed courtship into a reciprocal relationship. Niccolosa participates in the trick, and Calandrino’s desire is real, but his confidence that she loves him is produced by gestures, staged messages, and the collusion of the people around him. The counterfeit rings and magical parchment sharpen the joke: objects that seem to confirm intimacy are props in a scheme whose participants already know the truth.

The outcome is physical as well as emotional. Calandrino returns to Florence scratched, flayed, and downcast. His companions advise him not to return to the mansion, lest Filippo discover what happened and harm him. Niccolosa’s connection to Calandrino therefore ends not in an affair or reconciliation but in exposure, injury, and his exclusion from the place where the fantasy was manufactured. The story makes the relationship’s imbalance its comic engine: the more seriously Calandrino believes in his imagined conquest, the more completely the others can direct his actions.