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Ecclitico, who pretends to be an astrologer, is in love with Clarice. She is the eldest daughter of the rich – but simpleton – Buonafede. His friend Ernesto, in turn, has a crush on the youngest daughter, Flaminia. Both friends would love to marry the daughters, but Buonafede wants nothing to do with it. The gentlemen come up with a ruse. They let Lisetta, Buonafede’s chambermaid, tell beautiful stories about the moon, and then Ecclitico comes to say goodbye to him, supposedly because he is going on a trip to… the moon. Buonafede gets fired up and wants to go with him. Ecclitico gives him a magic potion that should take him to the moon – in reality just a sleeping potion – and Buonafede falls into a deep sleep.
He is taken to “the moon”, and is prepared to meet the emperor of the moon – who is actually a servant in disguise. Naturally, the two daughters are summoned to the emperor’s house to marry Ecclitico and Ernesto. To crown the ceremony, Buonafede is robbed of the key to the treasury. Only then is the situation explained to the poor man, and as a price for his release, Ecclitico and Ernesto also demand a dowry for his daughters.
Buonafede wants to act as what he thinks is ‘customary on the good moon’, forgets his anger and agrees to all demands.