Calandrino’s Failed Tryst with Niccolosa is a comic deception in which Calandrino takes a woman’s teasing for proof of passionate love and accepts a false talisman as the means to possess her. The prank grows from the painters’ work at a country estate into a carefully staged encounter, then collapses when Calandrino’s wife, Tessa, arrives. His supposed triumph ends in scratches, reproaches, and a love affair extinguished by humiliation.

The Estate and the First Misreading

Fiammetta presents this as another episode in the familiar cycle of Calandrino’s mishaps, while insisting on telling it in its true shape. The setting is a magnificent house at Camerata, built by the wealthy townsman Niccolo Cornacchini. He had hired Bruno and Buffalmacco to paint it; because the work was extensive, they brought in Nello and Calandrino as well. With the family usually absent and an old serving-woman watching over the property, the painters worked in a place already suited to secret visits and mischief.

The owner’s young, unmarried son Filippo sometimes brought women to the house for a day or two. Among them was Niccolosa, a woman kept at the disposal of Mangione, who let her out on hire. One day, as she washed at a courtyard well, Calandrino encountered her while fetching water. He stayed instead of returning to his companions, looking at her without daring to speak. Niccolosa looked back, not out of love but because she thought him an odd fellow, and sighed just enough to amuse herself. Calandrino read those gestures as signs of desire, fell head over heels in love, and imagined that she had fallen for him first.

The Conspiracy Takes Shape

Bruno noticed Calandrino sighing over his work and drew out the story of the supposedly enamoured woman. When Calandrino admitted that she might be Filippo’s wife, he still dismissed the danger and boasted that he would get his way regardless. Bruno pretended to offer help, but already knew who Niccolosa was. He told Nello and Buffalmacco what Calandrino believed, and the three secretly agreed to turn the infatuation into a game. Bruno then spoke with Filippo and Niccolosa, arranging what each would say and do to keep their gullible target hopeful.

At supper, the conspirators let Calandrino ogle Niccolosa while she acted as if his attention pleased her. Filippo pretended not to notice, making the scene more convincing to Calandrino and more entertaining to the others. Bruno carried messages as though he were speaking for Niccolosa, and sometimes brought letters that promised an eventual meeting while explaining her absence by saying she was with her relatives. The deception lasted a good two months. Calandrino offered gifts—including an ivory comb, a purse, and a knife—believing they came at his beloved’s request; in return, Bruno and Buffalmacco gave him worthless counterfeit rings. They also accepted fine snacks and other small treats as payment for their supposed services.

The Bat and the Barn

As the painting neared completion, Calandrino grew impatient. He feared that when the work ended he would lose his chance, and pressed Bruno to make the affair happen. Bruno shifted from promises to a mock-magical solution: Calandrino would touch Niccolosa with a written charm, and she would follow him. For the charm, Bruno demanded a piece of virgin parchment, a live bat, three grains of frankincense, and a candle blessed by a priest. Calandrino spent the night trying to catch the bat, then delivered it and the other ingredients. Bruno withdrew to a chamber, scribbled invented characters on the parchment, and directed Calandrino to touch Niccolosa when Filippo was away, then wait in a nearby barn.

Nello’s part in the scheme was to ensure that Tessa would arrive at the right moment. He went to her and told her that Calandrino had fallen in love with another woman and had arranged to meet her that very day. He urged Tessa to avenge the beating Calandrino had once given her after returning laden with stones from the Mugnone. Taking his story seriously, Tessa set out for the estate with a young maid and Nello. Meanwhile, Filippo pretended to leave, then hid where he could observe what happened.

Calandrino touched Niccolosa with the charm. She followed him into the barn, shut the door, and threw him onto the straw, restraining him by the shoulders. She pretended to long for him and praised his supposed charms, while he begged to kiss her. The spell had accomplished nothing: Niccolosa was performing a role arranged with Bruno and Filippo, and the apparent fulfilment of Calandrino’s hopes was another part of the trap.

Exposure and Aftermath

Bruno, Buffalmacco, and Filippo watched and listened as the performance continued. Then Nello arrived with Tessa, announcing that the pair were together. Tessa pushed open the barn door and found Niccolosa astride Calandrino. Niccolosa sprang up and fled to Filippo; Tessa attacked her husband, clawing his face and pulling him by the hair. Calandrino, scratched and helpless, did not resist. He tried to excuse himself by telling Tessa that the woman was the master of the house’s wife, but the explanation did not prevent the beating or the mockery.

Bruno, Buffalmacco, Filippo, and Niccolosa then came forward as if drawn by the commotion. After they managed to calm Tessa, they advised Calandrino to return to Florence and not come back, lest Filippo learn what had happened and take revenge. Calandrino went home scratched, discomfited, and chastened. Tessa continued to reproach him day and night, and he never again ventured to the estate. The story’s final reversal is deliberately plain: the man who believed a charm could command another person’s desire is exposed as the object of a much more effective design. His companions’ staged courtship has secured gifts and amusement; Tessa’s arrival converts his fantasy into a lasting domestic humiliation, and his ardent love comes to an end.