Neri degli Uberti

Neri degli Uberti is a Florentine gentleman driven from the city after the Ghibellines’ defeat and the Guelphs’ return. At Castellamare di Stabia he builds a new home and garden, and his generous, carefully ordered hospitality brings his family into contact with King Charles the Old. The encounter makes Neri’s estate a stage on which political enmity gives way to princely familiarity—and on which the king first sees Neri’s twin daughters.

Identity and Exile

After King Charles the Old’s victory over King Manfred, the Ghibellines were expelled from Florence and the Guelphs returned. Neri left the city with his household and a substantial sum of money, intending to take refuge under the king’s protection. Though Neri belonged to the party opposed to the king, his destination placed him within Charles’s sphere rather than in a rival refuge.

Neri settled at Castellamare di Stabia, where he bought an estate a crossbow-shot from the other houses. The distance gave the property a measure of seclusion, while its olive, walnut, and chestnut trees situated it amid the abundance of the surrounding countryside. He built a commodious house and a garden that he continually worked to make more beautiful.

The Estate and the King’s Visit

A plentiful supply of running water allowed Neri to construct a clear fishpond in the garden, following the custom of his own country, and stock it with fish. The garden’s beauty became known to King Charles, who had come to Castellamare to rest during the hot season. On hearing that the estate belonged to a man of the opposing party, Charles chose not to keep his distance: he sent word that he wished to dine privately in the garden that evening, accompanied by four companions.

Neri welcomed the proposal and made magnificent preparations, arranging his household’s duties in advance. He received the king as gladly as he could. Charles inspected and praised the house and garden, then sat beside the fishpond with Count Guy de Montfort on one side and Neri on the other. At the king’s command, three of his companions served according to the host’s arrangements. The finest and costliest wines and carefully ordered dishes were served without noise or disturbance, and Charles commended the meal.

Household Hospitality and the Daughters

The supper’s entertainment arose from the garden itself. Two young women entered carrying fishing nets and cooking implements: one bore a long pole and hand-nets; the other brought a frying-pan, firewood, a trivet, oil, and a lit torch. They waded into the fishpond and caught fish, which were brought to the table alive. The king and his companions were amused as the fish wriggled across the table and Charles playfully tossed them back to the women. The fish were then cooked and served, not as a rare delicacy but as a relish, in keeping with Neri’s arrangements.

When the women came out of the water, their wet linen garments clung to them. The king and the others observed their beauty and good manners, but Charles was especially captivated. Neri’s household had thus turned a hospitable supper into an encounter that awakened the king’s desire. Asked who the two women were, Neri identified them as his daughters, born at one birth: Ginevra the Fair and Isotta the Blonde. Their likeness was so striking that the king could not decide which pleased him more.

Neri’s Position in the Story

The daughters later returned in fine gowns carrying fruit on two large silver platters, then withdrew a little way and began singing. Neri’s role in the scene is chiefly that of host and father: his cultivated estate, generous reception, and household arrangements create the circumstances in which the king meets the young women. When Charles praised the daughters and urged Neri to marry them, Neri excused himself on the ground that he was no longer able to do so. The account does not explain that inability further.

Neri’s political displacement and personal hospitality shape the scene’s contrast. He had sought refuge under a ruler whose party had expelled his own, yet the king meets him familiarly at his table and commends what he has made. At the same time, the garden’s carefully staged abundance brings Charles face to face with a desire that may test his honor. Neri is therefore less the agent of the story’s ensuing moral choice than the host whose home, daughters, and honest limitation make that choice possible.