''Vanina Vanini'' is a short story published in 1829 by
Stendhal
Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, ; ), was a 19th-century French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' (''The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de P ...
(1783–1842), the
pen name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen na ...
of Marie-Henri Beyle. Set in the 1820s during the early
Risorgimento
The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...
, when
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
was under Austrian control, it concerns the love affair of a young Roman princess and a revolutionary '' carbonaro''.
Synopsis
Vanina Vanini, the nineteen-year-old daughter of a Roman aristocrat, Don Asdrubale Vanini, is sought after by all the young princes of Rome, but refuses them all, for of "the same
eason Eason is a surname.
The name comes from Aythe where the first recorded spelling of the family name is that of Aythe Filius Thome which was dated circa 1630, in the "Baillie of Stratherne". Aythe ''filius'' Thome received a charter of the lands of F ...
that led
Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first large-scale civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force.
Sulla had ...
to abdicate: her ''contempt for the Romans''." When she notices that her usually carefree father is taking pains to lock up one room in his palace, and that a window in that room that is normally closed is open, she begins to investigate.
Vanina finds another window that lets out on the same terrace, and looks through into the mysterious room. There, she sees a wounded woman lying in bed, as well as bloodstained woman's clothing that seems to have been pierced many times with a knife. She observes her father come up to the room and speak to the woman, though she cannot hear what the two are saying. Vanina is fascinated by the mysterious woman, and when, one evening, the woman sees Vanina spying, Vanina falls to her knees and tells the woman that she loves her and is devoted to her.
The woman, who gives her name as Clementina, asks Vanina to visit her every day, but to keep the visits a secret from her father. Vanina wonders why the woman is hurt and must stay hidden; perhaps she has rejected a powerful man, or killed her lover. Clementina does not want the assistance of a surgeon, because surgeons are required to report wounds that they treat to the police, but Vanina offers to bring her a surgeon loyal to the family.
The woman then reveals that she is in fact a man, Pietro Missirilli, a ''carbonaro'' and the nineteen-year-old son of a surgeon from
Sant'Angelo in Vado
Sant'Angelo in Vado is a ''comune'' (municipality), site of Ancient Tifernum Metaurense and former bishopric in the Province of Pesaro e Urbino in the central Italy, Italian Adriatic region Marche.
Geography
It is located about west of Ancona a ...
. Missirilli's group had been ambushed and he taken in chains to Rome, but after thirteen months, he was helped to escape in disguise as a woman. However, as he left the prison, in a moment of folly he struck and killed a guard who cursed the carbonari, and was pursued through Rome and wounded. Finding himself in the garden of Countess Vitelleschi, Don Asdrubale's mistress, he was spirited away in the latter's carriage. Don Asdrubale has thus saved his life, but he is dying of his wound.
That night, a surgeon arrives alone: Vanina's pride has been wounded by Missirilli's confession, and she does not want to see him. She is conflicted, struggling between love and pride, but eventually returns and confesses her love; soon after there is "nothing left that she could withhold from him."
Four months later, Missirilli is recovered, and Vanina thinks that he will be happy to remain with her, but he wants to take revenge and liberate Italy. Several times he plans to leave, but she persuades him to stay; she offers to marry him, but he refuses her in the interest of Italian liberation, and his nobility makes her love him more.
Missirilli goes to
Forlì
Forlì ( , ; rgn, Furlè ; la, Forum Livii) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. It is the central city of Romagna.
The city is situated along the Via E ...
in
Romagna
Romagna ( rgn, Rumâgna) is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna, North Italy. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to t ...
, where he is made the leader of a band of ''carbonari''. Vanina joins him there, giving a great deal of money and arms to his band; he is entirely occupied by his plans and his patriotism. She utterly fails to get him to show her love, but is too proud to leave him, so, via a former serving-maid, she denounces every member of Missirilli's band of ''carbonari'', save Missirilli himself, to the authorities, hoping that this will end his plans and reunite him with her.
Instead, Missirilli turns himself in — he does not want his compatriots to think, because he was the only one not captured, that he was the traitor. He asks Vanina to avenge him against whoever betrayed them, "even if it should be my own father."
Vanina tries to win Missirilli's freedom: she gets her suitor Livio Savelli, nephew to the governor of Rome, to bring her information and to gain places in the governor's household and at
Castel Sant'Angelo
The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as Castel Sant'Angelo (; English: ''Castle of the Holy Angel''), is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano, Rome, Italy. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausol ...
for two of her own servants, saying that these are tests of Savelli's worthiness. The other carbonari's sentences are commuted by the Pope to a few years in prison, but Missirilli is condemned to death.
Vanina enters the house of Monsignor Catanzara, the governor of Rome, disguised as a man, and threatens him with a pistol, having unloaded his own pistol before he came home. She maneuvers the situation into a joke, a visit paid by a lady to her future uncle. She succeeds in getting him to try to commute the sentence; besides her persuasion, he is also motivated by the thought that he is still young and may see a day when the execution will be a stain on his character. Msgr. Catanzara obtains the pardon from the Pope.
When Missirilli and the other ''carbonari'' are transferred to a new prison, Vanina arranges to meet him in a chapel at midnight, where he will be chained and in sight of a jailer, but where their conversation will not be overheard. Vanina hopes that he still loves her enough to pardon her treachery.
Missirilli expresses regret for their affair, thinking that his misfortunes are punishment for having a passion other than Italian liberation. He wishes to remain friends, advises Vanina to marry Savelli, and promises that the money she contributed to the cause will be repaid when Italy is free. Vanina gives him the jewels she is wearing and files, so that he can use them to break his chains, but he asks her to forget him, for he is committed to dying for his country.
Vanina angrily tells him everything she has done to save his life; then she says that she has done much more out of love for him, and reveals her betrayal. Missirilli, outraged, tries to kill her with his chains, but the jailer rushes in and restrains him. He throws back at her the jewels she has just given him. Shortly after, she returns to Rome and marries Livio Savelli.
Adaptations
Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such ...
Sandra Milo
Sandra Milo (born Salvatrice Elena Greco; 11 March 1933 in Tunis) is an Italian actress, television personality, author, and musician. She won a Silver Ribbon best supporting actress award for each of her roles in Federico Fellini's ''8½'' and ...
(Vanina) and
Laurent Terzieff
Laurent Terzieff (27 June 1935, in Toulouse – 2 July 2010, in Paris) was a French actor.
Biography
Terzieff was the son of French ceramistEast German television broadcast a film based on the novel, starring
Annekathrin Bürger
Annekathrin Bürger (born 1937) is a German stage, film and television actress. Bürger was a prominent actress in East Germany appearing in a number of films made by the state-run DEFA film studios as well as in television series such as ''Wolf ...
in the title role,
Peter Sturm
Josef Michel Dischel (24 August 1909 – 11 May 1984), known by his adopted stage name Peter Sturm, was an Austrian and an East German actor.
Biography
Early life
Dischel was born into a religious Jewish family in Vienna. His father was a tailor, ...
as Asdrubale and
Alfred Struwe Alfred Struwe (April 22, 1927 – February 13, 1998)Peter Hahn"Struwe, Alfred (Südwestkirchhof Stahnsdorf): Die Serie "Zahn um Zahn" war ein Knüller im DDR-Fernsehen" '' Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung'', 20 April 2007 was a German actor, best ...