Three Couples Flee to Crete with Money

Three Couples Flee to Crete with Money is the clandestine escape of Restagnone, Folco, and Ughetto with Ninetta, Maddalena, and Bertella. Its apparent romantic triumph is engineered through money and secrecy: Restagnone makes the young men’s wealth the price of a shared escape, while the sisters take a fortune from their father’s coffer. The six reach Crete and begin life in abundance, but the settlement’s luxury cannot secure the constancy on which their plan depended.

The Plan and Its Bargain

The three sisters were daughters of Narnald Cluada, a wealthy and trusted merchant of Marseilles who was away in Spain on business. Ninetta and Maddalena, born together, were fifteen; Bertella was fourteen. Ninetta was already secretly in love with Restagnone, a young man of gentle birth but poor means, and the two had managed to enjoy their relationship without others knowing. Folco and Ughetto, both rich young men whose fathers had died, fell in love with Maddalena and Bertella. Their new attachments gave Restagnone an opportunity to turn private desire into a collective undertaking.

Restagnone cultivated the young men’s friendship and presented himself as their ally. He proposed that the three pool their wealth, leave Marseilles with the sisters, and settle wherever they chose. His appeal joined their romantic hopes to a practical promise: the women would come with them, and the group could live together far from the constraints of home. Restagnone admitted, in effect, that his own poverty made the young men’s fortunes essential to the scheme. He also dangled the prospect that the sisters would bring a substantial part of their father’s property with them. The plan therefore rested not only on affection but on a calculated combination of pooled resources, access to the sisters, and stolen family wealth.

The young men agreed readily, and Restagnone then won Ninetta’s consent. She was more eager than he to live openly with him, and she believed her sisters would follow her lead. Ninetta’s part was decisive: she helped make the escape possible inside the household, persuading Maddalena and Bertella to embrace the venture. She did not merely accompany Restagnone’s plan; she helped enlist the other women whose participation would complete it.

The Secret Departure

The men prepared in secret. They sold some of their land under the pretense that they intended to trade with the proceeds, converted their other goods into money, and bought a light brigantine, which they equipped for the voyage. Their preparations concealed departure behind the appearance of ordinary commercial activity, while the vessel gave the six a means to leave without relying on anyone else’s permission.

When the appointed night came, the sisters opened a large coffer belonging to their father and removed a great quantity of money and jewels. Following the arrangements already made, they slipped out of the house and met the three men. The lovers boarded the brigantine, put out to sea, and did not rest until they reached Genoa the following evening. There, the new couples first had the privacy to enjoy their relationships together. The voyage had converted a concealed affair and a risky agreement into a shared life beyond the immediate reach of the family they had left behind.

Crete and the Promise of Plenty

After resting in Genoa, the six set out again. They sailed from port to port and reached Crete, without hindrance, before eight days had passed. Near Candia they bought substantial estates and built handsome, comfortable houses. Their arrival thus brought the escape to a material conclusion: the lovers were not simply fugitives sharing a temporary refuge, but landowners able to establish a household of their own.

The life they made there appeared to fulfil Restagnone’s promise. They lived like lords, with servants, hounds, hawks, and horses, and spent their days in feasting and merriment. All six seemed to have gained what the original bargain promised: the three men had their beloveds, the sisters had left their father’s house, and the group possessed both wealth and independence. The ending of the flight is consequently joyful in its immediate terms, but its abundance also sets up a contrast between having unrestricted access to pleasure and sustaining affection over time.

The Escape’s Unstable Aftermath

The household’s prosperity does not preserve the feeling that brought it into being. Once Restagnone can have Ninetta whenever he wishes, without obstacle, he begins to tire of her. At an entertainment he sees a beautiful, noble young woman of Crete and turns his attention to courting her, giving entertainments in her honor and pursuing her with gallantry. The new settlement has removed the barriers that once intensified his desire for Ninetta, but it cannot prevent him from transferring that desire elsewhere.

Ninetta hears of Restagnone’s courtship and grows jealous. She reproaches him, and the conflict consumes both of them; rather than restoring his former attachment, her objections further inflame his interest in the other woman. Ninetta comes to believe reports of his infidelity, whether or not he has obtained the new woman’s favor. Her love for Restagnone turns to bitter hatred, and, blinded by anger, she considers avenging the affront by killing him. The lovers’ escape therefore ends in a sharp reversal: the money and estate have secured a shared home, but not a shared future. The flight’s initial success becomes the setting for jealousy, waning desire, and the threat of violence.