Ruberto

Ruberto is the young lover of Madam Sismonda in a story shaped by secrecy, surveillance, and a sudden nocturnal confrontation. His meetings with her depend on a concealed signal; when her husband discovers it, Ruberto recognizes the danger, flees, and turns to fight his pursuer.

Identity and Place in the Story

Ruberto is a young man who has long courted Madam Sismonda. She falls in love with him while her husband, the rich merchant Arriguccio Berlinghieri, is frequently away. Their courtship becomes a private affair, and Ruberto is repeatedly eager to meet her. The story gives little account of his life beyond this relationship and the danger it brings.

The Secret Signal

Because Arriguccio watches his wife so closely that she cannot ordinarily be with Ruberto, Madam Sismonda devises a way to tell whether her husband has fallen asleep. She hangs a thin cord from her bedroom window, carries it across the floor to the bed, and fastens its end to her great toe beneath the covers. Ruberto is to pull the cord when he arrives around midnight: if she lets it go, he may come in; if she holds it fast, he must wait.

Ruberto follows the plan and comes to the house frequently. The signal does not guarantee a meeting: sometimes Madam Sismonda opens the door and they are together, and sometimes she keeps the cord taut and he has to wait. Their arrangement turns her husband’s watchfulness into a practical obstacle to be tested night after night.

Discovery and Flight

One night Arriguccio feels the cord in bed, traces it to his wife’s toe, and realizes that it is a device. He quietly cuts it free, ties it to his own toe, and waits. When Ruberto arrives and pulls hard, the cord slips from Arriguccio’s toe. Ruberto takes this as the signal to wait, but the husband rises, takes his arms, and goes to the door.

Arriguccio opens it in a manner unlike Madam Sismonda’s usual cautious welcome. Ruberto recognizes that the man at the door is her husband and runs. Arriguccio pursues him for a considerable distance; both are armed, and Ruberto turns to meet his pursuer with his sword. They exchange blows, one attacking and the other defending himself. The noise brings people from the neighborhood into the streets, railing at the fighters. Afraid of being recognized, Arriguccio abandons the pursuit, and Ruberto gets away from this encounter without being identified or harmed.

Narrative Role

Ruberto’s role is defined by his place in the lovers’ secret arrangement and by the swift reversal when its signal is exposed. The cord, meant to distinguish a safe moment from a dangerous one, becomes the means by which Arriguccio discovers the affair. Ruberto’s flight and armed resistance contrast with the hidden, carefully timed meetings that preceded the discovery; the episode ends not with a settled account of his relationship with Madam Sismonda, but with the husband’s retreat under the pressure of public attention.