# Landolfo Ruffolo — The Decameron character guide

> Landolfo Ruffolo in The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Landolfo

**First appearance:** 0019-the-fourth-story

## Snapshot

A merchant who stakes everything on a single trading voyage, loses all to the sea, and claws his way back through shipwreck and chance.

## Who they are

Landolfo Ruffolo is a Ravello merchant who, unwilling to live modestly, converts his property into goods and sails for Cyprus, only to be wrecked and stripped of everything. Adrift on a chest of treasure he has salvaged, he is carried by currents and fortune through a series of reversals that test whether a ruined man can rebuild. His tale opens the second day's theme of shipwreck and recovery, embodying the Decameron's fascination with fortune's sudden turns.

## In the story

### [The Fourth Story](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_decameron_se/chapters/the-fourth-story)

A wealthy merchant from Ravello who loses his fortune, turns to piracy, survives a shipwreck, and ultimately recovers his wealth through a chest of jewels.

### [The Sixth Story](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_decameron_se/chapters/the-sixth-story)

Gianni's father, mentioned as the brother of Messer Gian di Procida, who helped the king gain power.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_decameron_se/characters/landolfo_ruffolo
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_decameron_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_decameron_se/characters