Rhodes where Ughetto fled

Rhodes where Ughetto fled is the destination of a desperate nighttime escape in the story of Ninetta and Maddalena. The island offers Ughetto and his wife refuge from an accusation that threatens their lives, but their arrival marks not a restoration of fortune, only a precarious exile.

Flight to the Island

After Folco killed Maddalena and fled with Ninetta, Maddalena’s murder was discovered. People who hated Ughetto reported the killing to the duke, who loved Maddalena and seized Ughetto and his wife. Though they knew nothing of Folco and Ninetta’s departure, the duke’s pressure forced them to confess themselves implicated in the death.

Facing the prospect of execution, the couple bribed the guards who held them. They had kept a sum of money hidden for urgent need, but had no time to collect any of their other goods. Under cover of night, they embarked with their guards and escaped to Rhodes where Ughetto fled.

Exile and Consequence

The island became a place of safety at the price of poverty: Ughetto and his wife lived there for only a short time, in distress and without the property they had left behind. Their fate extends the consequences of Folco’s violence beyond its immediate victims. Maddalena’s murder brings not only Folco’s flight with Ninetta, but also the forced confession and displacement of a household that had no part in the crime.

Narrative Significance

Rhodes where Ughetto fled is presented through the human cost of arrival rather than through a description of the island itself. In the story’s chain of reversals, escape prevents an unjust execution but does not undo the damage: the couple survive, yet lose their home and means. The destination thus gives the episode a bitter resolution, in which flight preserves life while leaving the fugitives in hardship.