Stendhal wrote many chronicles, allegedly based on old manuscripts, about the passionate life in Italy. Among these are the ones published in this anthology: *The Cenci (Les Cenci) - The trial of an Italian family accused of murdering their abusive father. *Vittoria Accoramboni or The Duchess of Palliano (Vittoria Accoramboni / La Duchesse de Palliano) - The life of an Italian lady famous for her great beauty and accomplishments and for her untimely end. *The Abbess of Castro (L'Abbesse de Castro, 1832) - The unfortunate love of Giulio Bracciano and Elena de Campireali, an aristocartic woman. *Vanina Vanini - Vanina Vanini, the daughter of a Roman aristocrat, falls in love with the wounded Pietro Missirilli, a member of the revolutionary Carbonari organized in the fashion of Freemasonry, ans decides to betray him so he can devote himself entirely to her.
Author
Henri-Marie Beyle, better known by his pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century French writer. Known for his acute analysis of his characters' psychology, he is considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism in his two novels Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black, 1830) and La Chartreuse de Parme (The Charterhouse of Parma, 1839).
