Modena where Gentile held office

Modena is the setting of Messer Gentile de' Carisendi’s official posting and temporary absence from Bologna in the Day the Tenth story of Madam Catalina’s rescue from her tomb. Its narrative importance lies in the contrast between the private acts made possible by Gentile’s absence and the public return that allows him to restore Catalina and her newborn son to her husband.

Gentile’s posting

Messer Gentile de' Carisendi, a young gentleman of Bologna, had fallen in love with Madam Catalina, the wife of Niccoluccio Caccianimico, but she did not return his affection. When Gentile was appointed provost of Modena, he went there in despair over his love. Modena thus marks his departure from the city where Catalina lives, not a resolution of his attachment to her.

A place of retreat during Catalina’s recovery

While Gentile is away, Catalina, pregnant and staying at a country house outside Bologna, suffers a severe illness and is mistakenly buried as dead. Gentile later brings her out of the tomb and arranges for his mother to care for her. He asks Catalina to remain quietly with his mother until he returns from Modena, explaining that her family and the people of Bologna believe her dead and that he intends to present her to her husband before the city’s leading citizens.

Return to Bologna

After Catalina gives birth to a son, Gentile provides for her care and secretly returns to Modena. He completes the term of his office there before arranging a grand banquet for the morning of his return to Bologna. At the banquet he reveals Catalina, alive and recovered, and her child to Niccoluccio and the assembled guests. Modena’s place in the story is therefore bound to Gentile’s civic duty and the interval of concealment: he leaves the revelation until he has completed his posting and can make the restoration a public act.