Carapresa

Carapresa is a Christian woman from Trapani whose compassion and local connections change the course of Costanza’s perilous separation from Martuccio Gomito. First encountered on the Barbary coast, she offers Costanza food, shelter, and protection; later, she helps bring the separated lovers together and travels with them back to Lipari.

Identity and Setting

Carapresa serves Christian fishermen in Trapani and speaks Latin. She appears in Costanza’s story after the young woman, having heard that Martuccio is dead, sets out alone by boat in despair. The wind carries Costanza to a shore near Susa, where Carapresa finds her. Costanza does not know the country and is afraid of suffering an assault; she has no dependable companion or safe destination.

The name Carapresa itself becomes a small turning point. Costanza takes hearing it as a good omen, though she cannot explain why, and begins to relinquish her wish to die. The name’s association with a precious gain or capture gives the encounter an ironic resonance: Costanza has been cast ashore in a foreign land, but this meeting brings the first sign of help.

Shelter and Protection

Seeing Costanza’s distress, Carapresa leads her to her own small hut. There she listens as Costanza recounts how she arrived, and, noticing that she has been fasting, offers her dry bread, some fish, and water. The modest meal is the first concrete care Costanza receives after the voyage; it helps her recover enough to ask how she might avoid danger.

Carapresa does not leave the young woman to make her way alone. She gathers her nets, returns to the hut, wraps Costanza from head to foot in her own mantle, and takes her to Susa. There she recommends her to an elderly, compassionate Saracen woman whom she serves. The older woman receives Costanza into a household of women who work with silk, palm fibre, and leather. Costanza learns their crafts and language, and gains a place in the household while waiting for better fortune. Carapresa’s intervention thus provides not only immediate concealment and safety, but a route into a community where Costanza can live and work.

Bringing Costanza and Martuccio Together

When word reaches Costanza that Martuccio is alive and has risen to high favour with the King of Tunis, Carapresa is among those who travel with her and the older woman to Tunis. The older woman sends Carapresa to discover what she can about Martuccio. Carapresa finds him alive and prosperous, and reports back, confirming that Costanza’s renewed hope has a real object.

The older woman then takes responsibility for telling Martuccio that Costanza has come. Carapresa’s role is more practical than ceremonial: she makes the inquiry that establishes his whereabouts and standing, enabling the reunion to proceed. At their meeting, Costanza and Martuccio embrace and weep over both their past misfortunes and their present joy. Martuccio tells the king of their history and asks leave to marry Costanza.

Return and Narrative Significance

After the king grants permission and gives gifts to both, Carapresa embarks with the couple on a little ship for Lipari. She is present through the transition from Costanza’s solitary arrival in a strange land to her return with Martuccio as his bride. The story ends with their marriage and long life together in peace and repose; Carapresa’s part in that ending consists of a chain of useful acts—feeding, sheltering, covering, guiding, and carrying news—rather than a claim on the reward herself.

Her appearances connect separate shores and households: she comes from Trapani, meets Costanza near Susa, and accompanies the party to Tunis and back to Lipari. Within the story’s movement across the Mediterranean, Carapresa functions as a trusted intermediary whose kindness turns chance survival into a possible reunion. The evidence gives no further account of her life after the return voyage, but makes her assistance essential to Costanza’s passage from despair toward safety and marriage.