Page 134 - SUMMARIES OF GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO’S DECAMEON : A Visionary Journey In 100 Stories And 100 Etchings By Petru Russu

Monna Nonna de’ Pulci: Wit Wields the Final Word

In the vibrant swirl of Florentine festivity, where nobles parade and clergy
mingle with the city’s elite, Monna Nonna de’ Pulci stands out, not for
wealth or title, but for her luminous presence and razor-sharp mind. Newly
married and freshly settled in Porta San Piero, she carries herself with the

kind of grace that invites admiration and envy in equal measure.

On the feast day of Saint John, the Bishop of Florence rides alongside Messer
Dego della Ratta, the Lord Marshal of Naples, a man known for his gallant

pursuits and less-than-gallant indiscretions. As they pass through the crowd,
the bishop spots Monna Nonna and, with a mischievous glint, decides to make
sport of her. He gestures toward the marshal and asks, with mock solemnity,
whether she believes she could “make a conquest” of such a man.

The question, veiled in jest but laced with impropriety, is meant to provoke
laughter and perhaps a blush. But Monna Nonna does not flinch. With
the poise of a seasoned rhetorician, she replies that if such a conquest

were ever made, she would expect to be paid in good coin, not the gilded
counterfeits the marshal is rumored to have used in past affairs.

Her words land like a well-aimed arrow. The crowd, quick to grasp the

reference to a scandal involving the marshal and a bribed husband, erupts
in laughter. The bishop, caught off guard, is silenced. The marshal, stung
DISTILLING INTELLECTUAL by the truth wrapped in wit, can only smile through the sting.
BRILLIANCE INTO A VORTEX
OF POISED RESISTANCE AND
In that moment, Monna Nonna reclaims the stage. Her response is not
ASSERTIVE GEOMETRY, THIS
VISUAL PORTRAYAL OF MONNA just clever, it’s a masterclass in social navigation, turning mockery into
NONNA DE’ PULCI BECOMES triumph and exposing hypocrisy with elegance. Boccaccio’s tale, though
NOT JUST STORYTELLING, BUT
brief, reverberates with the power of language and the dignity of a woman
THE RHYTHM OF REPARTEE
who refuses to be diminished.
RENDERED IN PIGMENT.
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