Monaco

Monaco is the setting for the reversal that settles Bartolomea’s fate: the place where Ricciardo di Chinzica comes hoping to ransom his abducted wife, only to discover that she no longer wishes to be reclaimed. The story makes the town a stage for a change in allegiance, as Bartolomea’s apparent captivity becomes, by her own account, a preferred life.

Arrival and New Household

After Paganino da Mare’s corsair vessel takes Bartolomea from a boat at sea, he keeps her for himself. Finding her distressed, he first tries to console her with gentle words; by nightfall, his consolation has become physical. Before they reach Monaco, her husband and his rules have begun to fade from her thoughts. Paganino brings her to the town and treats her honorably as his wife, a new domestic arrangement that contrasts with Ricciardo’s jealous supervision and infrequent attention.

Ricciardo’s Attempt to Ransom Her

When Ricciardo learns where Bartolomea is, he travels by sea to Monaco, prepared to spend whatever is necessary to recover her. He approaches Paganino as a civil acquaintance and asks him to accept a ransom and return the woman he identifies as his wife. Paganino answers that he does not know whether she is Ricciardo’s wife, and will let her decide: if she recognizes Ricciardo and wants to leave with him, the husband may offer whatever ransom he chooses; if she does not, Ricciardo must not try to take her away.

Paganino then brings Ricciardo into his house and summons Bartolomea. Dressed and ready to receive them, she greets her husband as though he were a stranger. Ricciardo is astonished and first supposes that grief has changed his appearance so much that she cannot recognize him. He names himself and recalls the pain of losing her, but she continues to deny ever having seen him. In Monaco, the attempted ransom thus becomes a test not of the husband’s resources but of the wife’s choice.

Recognition and Refusal

Granted a private conversation, Bartolomea admits that she knows Ricciardo and names him as her husband. Her public denial, she explains, was not forgetfulness: she had decided against returning. She reproaches him for having misunderstood her while they lived together, pointing to the mismatch between her youth and playful nature and the life he allowed her. Her explanation turns the reunion into a judgment on their marriage, rather than a simple recovery of a missing wife.

Monaco therefore marks the point at which Ricciardo’s claim loses its force. He arrives expecting to pay for Bartolomea’s return; instead, Paganino’s willingness to let her choose gives her the decisive voice. The town’s house and its threshold frame the contrast between possession and consent: Ricciardo can find his wife, but he cannot make her wish to go back.