The Mistress of the Inn

[3] Mirandolina runs an inn in Florence and is constantly courted in marriage by all her clients, particularly the Marchese of Forlipopoli and the Conte of Albafiorita, who represent the two extremes of contemporary Venetian society, since the former is a born aristocrat who has fallen on hard times and sold his title whereas the latter is a young newly-rich merchant who has bought a title and become part of the new nobility.

[4] With only his honour to fall back on, the Marchese is convinced that offering his protection to Mirandolina will be enough to win her heart, whilst the Conte gives her many expensive gifts, believing he can buy her love just as he has bought his title.

The fragile equilibrium in the inn is broken by the arrival of the Cavaliere of Ripafratta, a haughty and inveterately woman-hating aristocrat inspired by the Florentine patrician Giulio Rucellai, to whom the play is dedicated.

Anchored to his noble origins and lamenting the poor service at the inn, Ripafratta gives orders to Mirandolina and mocks Forlipopoli and Albafiorita for courting a woman.

[11] Noticing the golden bottle in the basket and thinking it to be of little value, Forlipopoli takes it and gives it to Dejanira, one of two actresses who have just arrived at the inn pretending to be noblewomen.

Eleonora Duse is one of the actresses to have played its lead role, Mirandolina; she gave a command performance for Queen Victoria at Windsor on 18 May 1894.

[21] The American composer Henry Kimball Hadley adapted it as a one-act comic opera called Bianca, which was first performed in 1918.