I Promessi Sposi

I promessi sposi, novel by Alessandro Manzoni, published in three volumes in 1825–26; the complete edition was issued in 1827. It was initially translated into English as The Betrothed Lovers, but it was more commonly translated as simply The Betrothed. Set in early 17th-century Lombardy during the period of the Thirty Years’ War and the plague, the novel is a sympathetic portrayal of the struggle of two peasant lovers whose wish to marry is thwarted by a vicious local tyrant and the cowardice of their parish priest. A courageous friar takes up the lovers’ cause and helps them through many adventures to safety and marriage. The novel brought Manzoni immediate acclaim and had enormous patriotic appeal for Italians of the nationalistic Risorgimento period. It became a model for many later Italian writers.