The Italian
Ann Radcliffe
 The plot starts in Naples, Italy in the 18th century, in the church Santa Maria del Pianto, where an Englishman is speaking with an Italian friar. The Englishman notices a man in a shadowy area of the church, who is an assassin, according to the friar. When the Englishman asks the friar to recall the story of why this assassin is protected in the church, the friar relates that he will send him a textual story to his hotel written by a student of Padua, and the two retire from the church and go their separate ways. The Englishman reads the story in his hotel room as follows: It is 1758 in the church of San Lorenzo in Naples where Vincentio di Vivaldi sees the beautiful Ellena di Rosalba with her aunt, Signora Bianchi. Vivaldi is struck with her beauty, and intends to court her, with the hopes that they will end up married. When Vivaldi’s mother, the Marchesa, hears about his love for Ellena, she hires her confessor, Father Schedoni, to kidnap Ellena to prevent the marriage, with a promise that she will help him obtain a higher position in his monastery. As Vivaldi continues to attend to Signora Bianchi at Villa Altieri, he is consistently approached by a monk, who seems to be an apparition, warning him to stay away from the villa and Ellena. Each time he encounters the strange monk, Vivaldi tries to follow him, with the help of both his friend Bonarmo and his faithful servant Paulo. Vivaldi is positive that the monk is Father Schedoni, and is determined to discover why his desired marriage to Ellena is forbidden. After being promised the hand of Ellena by Signora Bianchi before her mysterious death, Vivaldi learns that Ellena has been kidnapped, and he immediately assumes it is by the hand of the Marchesa and Schedoni. Vivaldi finds that his beloved has been sent to the convent of San Stefano, under the care of the cruel Lady Abbess, and he and his servant travel to retrieve her. In the convent, Ellena is befriended by a lovely, but melancholy nun, Sister Olivia, who helps her to escape from the convent into the care of Vivaldi. While riding towards Naples after the escape, Vivaldi presses Ellena for an immediate marriage, and she finally consents. Right before they are to take their vows, the Inquisition comes and arrests Vivaldi, Ellena and Paulo on what they believe to be false charges. Vivaldi and Paulo are taken to the Holy Office of the Inquisition to be questioned and put to trial. Ellena, however, is sent by Schedoni and the Marchesa to a lone house on the seaside, inhabited only by the villain Spalatro, to be murdered. Schedoni comes to the house to assassinate Ellena personally, but discovers that she is his daughter. Schedoni has a change of heart, and decides to take Ellena personally back to Naples and put her in a safer place. While on their journey, they once again encounter Spalatro, who is wounded in a scuffle and left behind. Schedoni and Ellena finally arrive in Naples, where Schedoni places Ellena in the convent of Santa Maria del Pianto until Vivaldi can be recovered. Schedoni converses with the Marchesa, keeping secret that he intends to marry her son and his daughter, but does communicate that Ellena comes from a rich lineage, so a marriage would not be disgraceful. Meanwhile, in the prison of the Inquisition, the mysterious monk that had previously forewarned Vivaldi, now known to be Nicola di Zampari, appeared and narrated to him the guilty crimes committed by Father Schedoni before he became a monk, and asked him to summon Schedoni and Father Ansaldo to the prison to confirm the crimes. Both appear in front of the tribunal members, and Schedoni is accused of murdering his brother and wife. Schedoni is summoned to death, and tells Vivaldi where Ellena is being held before he is escorted to a prison confinement. Vivaldi is also escorted back to his prison cell, with the knowledge that the charges against him will be dropped, thanks to Nicola. Back at the convent, Ellena distinguish a voice all too familiar, and sees her dearly loved Sister Olivia in the convent yard. While the two speak of what has become of them since they first parted, Ellena’s servant Beatrice appears to tell of the death of the wicked Marchesa. Beatrice and Olivia recognize each other, and elate Ellena with the news that Olivia is her mother. Ellena also becomes familiar with the fact that she is not Schedoni’s daughter, but his niece. Since they are of the same lineage, Ellena is still from a noble family, which would allow her to marry Vivaldi. The ending of the novel is a happy one; Vivaldi and Paulo get released from the prison of the Inquisition, Ellena is reunited with her mother, and Vivaldi and Ellena are joined in marriage, and all the villains have died.