Francesca de' Lazzari

Francesca de' Lazzari is a beautiful widow in Pistoia whose defining act is to rid herself of two persistent suitors through a test built around a dead man's tomb. Neither Rinuccio Palermini nor Alessandro Chiarmontesi wins her affection: instead, she converts their declarations of love into a dangerous service, then makes their failure the reason she will hear from neither again.

Identity and Situation

Francesca lives in Pistoia, where Rinuccio and Alessandro are staying because they have been banished from Florence. The two men fall passionately in love with her without knowing of each other's pursuit, and each privately tries to win her favor. Their attention reaches her through repeated messages and entreaties.

She has sometimes listened to them, imprudently, but now wants to withdraw discreetly. Her difficulty is not uncertainty over which suitor to choose: she desires neither. She therefore looks for a request that will give her a defensible reason to refuse further approaches if either man declines it.

The Test She Devises

A notorious man called Scannadio has died in Pistoia and been buried that morning in the burial ground of the Friars Minor. His ancestors were gentlemen, but he was reputed to be exceptionally wicked; even while alive, his misshapen and frightening appearance made people afraid of him. Francesca sees the fresh burial as an opportunity to put both suitors to a test they are unlikely to accept.

She sends her maid first to Alessandro with an offer that he may have her love if he performs a service that night. He is to go to Scannadio's tomb, put on the dead man's clothes, and remain there as though he were the corpse until he is carried to Francesca's house. She tells him that a kinsman will bring the body there and that she wants it removed because she fears it, even dead. The request makes a private promise of intimacy depend on impersonating a frightening corpse and submitting to being carried away from the grave.

Rinuccio receives a separate service connected to the same burial. The story's setup makes the tasks complementary: one suitor is to enter the tomb in the dead man's place, while the other is to bring him out as though he were dead. Francesca's design gives each man a practical obstacle and makes their would-be devotion answerable to a test she controls.

The Tomb and Its Reversal

The night's events entangle the two suitors rather than delivering either to Francesca as planned. Rinuccio carries Alessandro on his shoulders; Alessandro is dressed in Scannadio's long clothes. When the watch arrives and its lantern is put out, Francesca nevertheless recognizes both men. Rinuccio gets away, and Alessandro, hampered by the dead man's clothes, also takes flight.

The scene overturns the suitors' imagined reward. Instead of a private meeting with Francesca, Alessandro is borne through the night as a counterfeit corpse, while Rinuccio's effort to complete his service ends in flight and separation from his companion. Francesca marvels at their boldness, but the spectacle also makes her laugh: the ordeal has exposed how far their courtship will carry them without bringing either closer to the intimacy he seeks.

Consequences and Character

After the watch leaves, Rinuccio returns to search for Alessandro and finish his service, but cannot find him. He supposes the police have carried Alessandro off and goes home in distress; Alessandro likewise returns home, chagrined and unsure who had carried him. The next day, Scannadio's tomb is found open and his body is missing, having been rolled to the bottom of the vault. People in Pistoia invent explanations, and the simpler-minded conclude that devils took the corpse.

Both suitors report to Francesca what they did and what happened, excuse their failure to complete her commands, and still claim her favor. She answers by refusing them: since they have not done what she required, she will do nothing for them. Her earlier wish for a colourable excuse has become the ending's decisive mechanism. She can acknowledge the extraordinary risks they took without treating those risks as a claim upon her affection.

Narrative Role and Significance

Francesca's ingenuity lies in redirecting the language of courtship. The men offer service in hope of winning her; she sets the terms, chooses the test, and keeps the right to judge whether it has been fulfilled. The grave, the corpse's clothes, and the confusion of carrying one living suitor as if he were dead make their pursuit grotesquely literal, while the missing body supplies a public rumor that extends the night's disorder beyond the private contest.

The episode presents her not as a prize between rival men but as the person who arranges the contest and determines its outcome. The suitors' actions may show the strength of their desire, yet desire does not oblige her to reciprocate. By making refusal rest on their failure to meet her condition, she ends both men's importunity while retaining control of her own choice.