Malgherida de' Ghisolieri

Malgherida de' Ghisolieri is a beautiful widow in Bologna whose attempt to turn an elderly physician’s infatuation into a joke is reversed by his wit. The exchange makes her both the target of a public teasing and the occasion for a lesson: before trying to embarrass another person, the women should reckon with that person’s ability to answer back.

Identity and Setting

The tale identifies Malgherida as a widow and, according to one account of her name, as a member of the de' Ghisolieri family. Her beauty draws the attention of Alberto of Bologna, a celebrated physician approaching seventy. After seeing her at an entertainment, he falls in love and repeatedly passes her house, sometimes on foot and sometimes on horseback. His conspicuous visits make his attachment apparent to Malgherida and the other women.

The Attempt to Tease Alberto

One holiday, Malgherida is seated with several women before her house when they see Alberto approaching. They agree to receive him courteously, honor him, and then tease him about being in love at an age when, they suppose, such passion belongs to young men. They rise to greet him, take him into a shady courtyard, and offer him their best wines and sweetmeats before asking why he loves Malgherida when many handsome, lively young gentlemen court her.

The question turns the physician’s age into the focus of the gathering. But Alberto does not take offense or retreat: he meets the women’s courteous challenge with a composed, playful argument about taste and judgment. He compares their choice of lovers to eating leeks while discarding the more agreeable, edible head in favor of the less pleasant leaves. If Malgherida makes the same mistake in choosing among her suitors, he suggests, the older man might be the better choice. The analogy lets him answer their mockery on its own terms and places their judgment, rather than his years, under scrutiny.

Response and Boundary

The women are abashed by the answer. Malgherida acknowledges that Alberto has courteously chastised their presumptuous attempt, and she says that the love of a worthy and learned man is dear to her. Her response does not establish that she accepts his romantic pursuit: she offers him deference and says he may command her in his every pleasure only with the explicit exception of her honor.

Alberto rises, thanks her, and departs with his companions amid laughter and merriment. The encounter ends without a reported romantic union. Its decisive reversal is social and verbal: the women had intended to make the physician’s age ridiculous, but his reply leaves them, and particularly their hostess, embarrassed instead.

Narrative Role

The episode is presented as a warning to the women listening to the story. Its teller says that people who try to put another person to the blush without measuring their own abilities against that person’s may find the embarrassment returned to them. Malgherida’s gathering supplies the example: hospitality and teasing create the occasion, Alberto’s leek analogy turns the challenge around, and her acknowledgment closes the exchange. Her answer also keeps courtesy distinct from consent, ending the scene with a limit on what her praise of the physician can mean.