Candia

Candia is the nearby landmark for the estates and handsome homes where three fugitive couples begin a prosperous life on Crete. In the story, the settlement represents both the successful end of a dangerous escape and the fragile ease that follows: wealth and freedom bring pleasure, but do not secure lasting affection.

Setting and Settlement

After leaving Genoa, the sisters and their lovers sail from port to port and reach Crete before the eighth day. They buy substantial estates near Candia and build handsome, comfortable dwellings. The location is described through this act of settlement rather than through a portrait of the town itself; the narrative places its emphasis on the new homes and the life the fugitives make around them.

Life Near Candia

The couples live in lordly fashion, with banquets, merrymaking, and ample household resources. Their prosperity is made tangible by the many servants, hounds, hawks, and horses at their disposal. What had begun as flight becomes an apparently secure life of plenty, shared by the men and their mistresses.

Narrative Significance

The comfort near Candia is not a final resolution. As abundance makes the lovers' former pleasures constantly available, Restagnone grows weary of Ninetta and turns his attention to a young local noblewoman. Ninetta learns of his courtship, and her jealousy and reproaches intensify the conflict between them. The settlement thus marks a reversal: the couples escape the constraints of their former lives, but their new freedom exposes their relationships to boredom, rivalry, and betrayal.