Page 142 - SUMMARIES OF GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO’S DECAMEON : A Visionary Journey In 100 Stories And 100 Etchings By Petru Russu

Madonna Filippa : Wit as the Architect of Reform

In the city of Prato, a statute as cruel as it was lopsided condemned any woman
caught in adultery to be burned alive, regardless of circumstance. It made no
distinction between a wife taken in passion and a courtesan selling favors. Men,
of course, were exempt from such scrutiny. Into this rigid framework steps

Madonna Filippa, a woman of beauty, wit, and unshakable composure.

One night, her husband, Rinaldo de Pugliese, discovers her in the arms of
Lazarino de Guazzagliotri, a young nobleman she loves with quiet fervor.

Enraged and armed with the law, Rinaldo drags her before the magistrate,
demanding justice, or rather, vengeance.

But Filippa does not cower. She arrives at court not in shame, but in dignity,

flanked by friends and family who urge her to deny the charge. She refuses. Her
love, she insists, is not a crime. With calm conviction, she admits the affair and
then dismantles the statute with a single, brilliant argument: her husband has
never lacked her affection or access to her body. And if men are free to indulge

their desires without consequence, why should women be punished for the same?

The courtroom, stunned into silence, erupts into laughter and admiration.
Even Rinaldo, once furious, finds himself disarmed by her logic and grace. The

magistrate, moved by her courage and clarity, not only acquits her but agrees
to amend the law. From that day forward, the statute would apply only to
women who committed adultery for profit, not for love.

IN THE IMAGE, MADONNA
Filippa’s triumph is more than personal. It is a moment of reform, a crack in
FILIPPA AND HER WORLD
BLOOM WITH VIVID, GEOMETRIC the armor of patriarchal law, and a celebration of reason over repression.
DEFIANCE, EACH ANGULAR Boccaccio, ever the sly social critic, uses her voice to challenge the moral
CURVE AND ELECTRIC HUE
double standards of his time. And in doing so, he gifts us a heroine who
ECHOING THE FIRE OF HER
doesn’t just survive the system, she rewrites it.
COURTROOM TRIUMPH.
DECAMERON 140 141