In The Ill-Advised Curiosity, what city is Anselmo from?

In “The Ill-Advised Curiosity,” Anselmo is from Florence. The embedded tale, known in Spanish as “El curioso impertinente,” is set among Florentine nobles and follows Anselmo, his wife Camilla, and his friend Lothario.

Anselmo becomes irrationally determined to test Camilla’s fidelity. He persuades Lothario to court her, believing that a successful resistance would prove her virtue. Lothario initially pretends to make the attempt, but Anselmo discovers the deception and insists that his friend continue in earnest.

The experiment destroys the trust it was meant to measure. Lothario and Camilla eventually fall in love, while Anselmo remains convinced that his plan is revealing the truth. The story is therefore a warning about jealousy, obsessive curiosity, and attempts to manufacture certainty in personal relationships.

Florence is easy to confuse with other Italian cities because Cervantes’s main narrative travels widely and the tale is read as a digression at an inn. It is, however, specifically associated with Florence and its Florentine characters.