Costanza

Costanza’s story turns an intended death at sea into a return to love and life. Believing Martuccio Gomito drowned, she secretly rows into open water and abandons the boat to the waves; instead of dying, she is carried to Barbary, where Carapresa’s hospitality gives her a reason to hope. The later news that Martuccio is alive brings her across the sea again, this time toward reunion, marriage, and a shared return to Lipari.

Identity and the Loss of Martuccio

Costanza is a young woman from Lipari who loves Martuccio Gomito. When he departs, reports arrive from many people that he and everyone aboard his vessel have drowned. The repeated news persuades her that her lover is dead, and she is overwhelmed by grief. The story makes that belief the hinge of her first decisive action: she does not simply mourn Martuccio but resolves that she, too, will no longer live.

Her despair is expressed through a plan designed to make escape impossible. Unable to bring herself to kill herself by direct violence, she secretly leaves her father’s house one night and finds a small fishing boat, separated from the other vessels. Its owners have just landed, so it already has a mast, sail, and oars. Costanza boards, rows out to sea, and, knowing something of seamanship as women of Lipari commonly do, sets sail. She then casts away both oars and rudder, deliberately leaving herself without the means to steer or return. Wrapped in a mantle, she lies weeping in the bottom of the boat, expecting that wind or rocks will bring about her death.

The Voyage and Carapresa’s Shelter

The sea carries Costanza not to the death she expects but to a place near Susa in Barbary. When she realizes she is ashore, she fears what may happen to her and does not know how to protect herself. A woman dressed in Christian garb speaks to her in Latin and explains where she has landed. Costanza is distressed that she has survived, yet the woman takes pity on her and brings her into a small hut.

There, care begins in modest, concrete acts. The woman coaxes Costanza to eat a little of her own dry bread and fish and gives her water. Asked who she is, she says she is Carapresa, from Trapani, and that she serves Christian fishermen. The sound of Carapresa’s name strikes Costanza as a favorable sign, though she cannot say why; without knowing what she hopes for, she begins to regain hope and to relinquish some of her wish to die. The shift does not erase her vulnerability. She still conceals who she is and asks Carapresa for counsel on how to avoid being harmed.

Carapresa’s response makes shelter more than temporary refuge. She persuades Costanza to tell how she came there, then helps her find a way forward. Costanza’s survival depends not on a sudden return to her former circumstances but on aid received among strangers, first through food and protection and then through a new connection that can carry her onward.

News of Martuccio and the Return of Hope

Martuccio’s fortunes change while Costanza is away. In Tunis, he gives the king military advice about archery: after both sides have shot their arrows, his men can use the enemy’s arrows, whose thinner strings fit the wider notches of their own arrows, while the enemy cannot use theirs. The king follows the counsel and wins the war. Martuccio rises into the king’s favor and gains a rich and elevated position.

Reports of his success reach Costanza, who had long believed him dead. The news rekindles her love, which had grown cool, and revives the hope she had lost. She tells Carapresa the whole story of her adventures and asks to go to Tunis so that she can see for herself the man known to her through the reports. The older woman approves. She travels with Costanza by ship and receives her honorably at the home of a kinswoman in Tunis; Carapresa accompanies them and is sent to discover whether Martuccio is alive. Finding him in a position of distinction, she returns with the news.

Reunion, Marriage, and Ending

The older woman arranges the meeting by telling Martuccio that a servant from Lipari wishes to speak with him privately at her house. When Costanza sees him, she runs to him with open arms and embraces him, unable at first to speak. She weeps both for the suffering they have endured and for the happiness of finding him alive. Martuccio, astonished because he had heard that she was lost, embraces and kisses her in turn. Their reunion is therefore also an exchange of mistaken beliefs: each had understood the other to be gone.

Costanza recounts what happened to her and acknowledges the honorable treatment she received from the woman who sheltered her. Martuccio then tells the king about both their adventures and asks leave to marry her according to their law. The king summons Costanza, hears her confirm Martuccio’s account, and declares that she has earned him as a husband. He gives magnificent gifts to both and permits them to do as they wish. Martuccio also thanks and rewards the woman who housed Costanza, recognizing the care that carried her safely through exile and uncertainty.

With the king’s permission, Costanza and Martuccio embark with Carapresa in a small ship and return to Lipari with a favorable wind. Their homecoming is met with great rejoicing; they marry in a splendid wedding and live together for a long time in peace and happiness. The ending reverses the voyage Costanza had undertaken as a means of dying: the sea first preserves her, then becomes the route by which she reaches Martuccio and returns home. Emilia’s tale presents that reversal as a movement from grief and apparent finality toward restored love, made possible by kindness, news carried across distance, and the renewed chance to choose life together.