In a surprise commendation, Archbishop Landriani recommends Fabrizio’s promotion, which Mosca negotiates in order to avoid upsetting the Prince. Fabrizio receives the news calmly, “like a true grand seigneur who quite naturally believed he was entitled to such extraordinary advancement” (219). Faced anew with Parma politics, Fabrizio laments “those fine resolutions made at the lakeshore” (214).

Fabrizio travels to Sanguigna to participate in an excavation of statues. Wandering from the site in order to hunt, he encounters Marietta with Giletti, who thinks that the armed Fabrizio plans to abduct her. Giletti instigates a sword fight and wounds Fabrizio who, enraged at the notion of his own disfigurement, kills Giletti. Fabrizio regards his wounds in a mirror and, once he realizes Giletti is dead, retreats into Austrian territory. Taking Giletti’s passport and heeding the advice of the older actress accompanying Marietta, Fabrizio crosses the border on foot. Given obvious discrepancies in his false passport, Fabrizio risks arrest and considers his options in imaginative detail. The border officer, who knows that Fabrizio is not Giletti, allows Fabrizio to pass in order to avoid unforeseen trouble. Fabrizio is ashamed of his fear before the officers, “these clerks with brass jewelry” (231).

In a tavern, Fabrizio meets his former coachman, the poet Ludovic, who helps him escape with such devotion that Fabrizio is moved to tears by “the perfect loyalty [of] […] these peasants” (234).