''Malombra'' is an 1881 novel by the Italian writer Antonio Fogazzaro. It is a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

story set close to

Lake Como Lake Como ( it, Lago di Como , ; lmo, label=Western Lombard, Lagh de Còmm , ''Cómm'' or ''Cùmm'' ), also known as Lario (; after the la, Larius Lacus), is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of , making it the thir ...

in the mid-Nineteenth century. It was Fogazzaro's debut novel.Brand & Pertile p.472

Synopsis

A young woman living in a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

, comes to believe that she is the returned spirit of a former aristocrat who once live there.

Adaptations

The novel was turned into films on two occasions: a 1917 silent film directed by

Carmine Gallone Carmine Gallone (10 September 1885 – 11 March 1973) was an early Italian film director, screenwriter, and film producer, who was also controversial for his works of pro-Fascist propaganda and historical revisionism. Considered one of Itali ...

and a 1942 film directed by

Mario Soldati Mario Soldati (17 November 1906 – 19 June 1999) was an cinema of Italy, Italian writer and film director. In 1954 he won the Strega Prize for ''Lettere da Capri.'' He directed several works adapted from novels, and worked with leading Ital ...

. In 1974 the story was adapted as a miniseries for Italian television.

References

Bibliography

* Brand, Peter & Pertile, Lino. ''The Cambridge History of Italian Literature''. Cambridge University Press, 1999. 1881 novels 19th-century Italian novels Italian Gothic novels Novels set in Italy Novels by Antonio Fogazzaro Italian novels adapted into films {{gothic-novel-stub