Fiordiligi and Dorabella are engrossed in admiring the portraits of their loved ones. They are in a frivolous mood and look forward to their forthcoming weddings. They sit in the garden lost in thought about their betrothed. Suddenly two Albanians enter and pretend to have taken poison. As part of the cure, which uses a magnet, the beautiful young girls have to hold the heads of the patients who come back to life and ask for a kiss. Left alone, Fiordiligi is restless, tormented by pangs of conscience and regret. She vows to resist temptation.