(1797) was the final novel published during the lifetime of its author, Ann Radcliffe.

is presented as a manuscript written by a student from Padua in 1758 following the public disclosure of a “horrible confession” (4). The manuscript was given to an English traveller a few years later by a friar at the Santa Maria del Pianto, a church belonging to the order of the Black Penitents, in Naples, Italy, where assassins regularly seek sanctuary. The traveller returns to his hotel to read the manuscript, which forms the remainder of the novel.

Vincentio di Vivaldi, the only son of a noble man of an ancient family and a haughty, vindictive, deceitful woman of violent passions, first sees Ellena Rosalba as she walks with her aunt, Signora Bianchi, in the church of San

1836 words

Citation: Webber, Caroline. "The Italian". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 January 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=483, accessed 27 November 2024.]