Ginevra Disguises Herself as Sicurano and Flees

Ginevra’s flight as Sicurano turns a death sentence into a new identity and a route to influence: left alive in a lonely valley, she escapes the husband who ordered her murder and rises through service from a fugitive to a trusted officer of the Soldan.

The Order and the Escape

Bernabo Lomellini’s servant takes Ginevra into a deep, isolated valley and tells her that his master has commanded him to kill her. Ginevra asks first to understand the charge against her; the servant admits that he knows of no offense of his own knowledge, only that Bernabo has ordered the killing and threatened him if he disobeys. Rather than resist him or submit to death, Ginevra proposes a way for the servant to satisfy his master’s command without taking her life: he can carry her clothes back and claim that he has killed her.

The servant, already reluctant to murder her, accepts the plan. He leaves her some money and his own poor doublet, then reports to Bernabo that the order has been carried out and that he left her body among wolves. His false report gives Ginevra time to escape, while Bernabo returns to Genoa and becomes the object of blame when the supposed killing becomes known.

Making Sicurano

Ginevra remains alone in the valley until nightfall, then reaches a nearby village and obtains what she needs from an old woman. She alters the servant’s doublet to fit her and makes linen breeches from her shift. After cutting her hair and changing her appearance, she takes on the guise of a sailor. The disguise is practical as well as visual: the servant’s clothing and the name Sicurano da Finale allow her to leave the region without presenting herself as Bernabo’s wife.

At the shore, chance brings her into contact with Senor Encararch, a Catalan gentleman whose ship lies offshore. Ginevra enters into conversation with him and embarks as his servant under the name Sicurano. Given better clothes aboard, she serves him so aptly that she wins his favor. Her escape thus proceeds by successive acts of concealment and adaptation: first she persuades the servant to conceal her supposed death, then she makes a new appearance and earns a place in another household.

From Fugitive to Officer

Senor Encararch later sails to Alexandria with merchandise and peregrine falcons intended for the Soldan. The Soldan receives the Catalan gentleman at meals and notices Sicurano’s bearing while Sicurano attends him. He asks Encararch to give up his servant; Encararch consents despite his regret, and Sicurano enters the Soldan’s service. There, too, Sicurano’s conduct wins favor.

When the annual gathering of Christian and Saracen merchants is held at Acre, the Soldan chooses Sicurano to serve among the principal officers sent to protect the merchants and their goods. By then Sicurano has learned the language of the country. At Acre, Sicurano acts as governor and captain of the guard, moving through a commercial gathering that includes Sicilian, Pisan, Genoese, Venetian, and other Italian merchants. The fugitive’s assumed identity has carried Ginevra from threatened isolation into a position of authority in a busy, multilingual port.

Significance of the Disguise

Ginevra’s flight depends on other people’s misreadings, but it is not passive concealment. She negotiates with the servant, repurposes his clothes, changes her name and appearance, and makes herself useful in successive households. Each step converts a precarious refuge into a more secure position: the servant’s report buys her escape, Encararch’s patronage provides passage, and the Soldan’s confidence brings public responsibility.

The episode also establishes the sharp contrast between the identity imposed on Ginevra by Bernabo and the identity she constructs for herself. Her husband’s command reduces her to an alleged offender whose life may be taken without explanation; as Sicurano, she is judged by her conduct and entrusted with protecting others. Her disguise does not merely hide her from the past: it enables her to cross boundaries and gain authority before the story’s later reckoning with the truth.