Il fortunato inganno (The Happy Deception) is an opera buffa in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti, to a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola.

Donizetti composed the opera during the summer of 1823, during which time his Alfredo il grande was in rehearsals at the Teatro San Carlo.

[1] A production was mounted in July 1995 at the Vadstena Academy conducted by Michael Bartosch and with Ann Hallenberg among the cast.

Aurelia, Eugenia's aunt and Lattanzio's wife, pretends to be a countess, and in the "happy deception" of the title, deceives the Colonel into believing she loves him, and in so doing persuades him to accept the union of the two young people.

Its cast includes Domenico Colaianni, Stefania Donzelli, Magali Damonte, Eun-Joo Lee, Madia Todisco, and Nicolas Rivenq, under the direction of Arnold Bosman.