The Patriot by Antonio Fogazzaro

  • FIRST PUBLISHED: Piccolo mondo antico, 1896 (English translation, 1906)
  • TYPE OF WORK: Novel
  • TYPE OF PLOT: Historical romance
  • TIME OF WORK: Mid-nineteenth century
  • LOCALE: Italy

The Story:

The Marchesa Orsola was determined that Don Franco Maironi, her grandson, should marry a woman of birth and money. Franco, however, was in love with Luisa Rigey, a gentle girl of the neighborhood who had neither wealth nor position. Because the Marchesa had forbidden him to see Luisa, her mother had tried to please the powerful old lady by keeping the young people apart. Then, when the mother knew that she was dying, she was so anxious to see her daughter settled that she gave her permission for a secret marriage.

His marriage meant that Franco would be cut off without a cent, for the Marchesa controlled the Maironi fortune and was not one to relent once her mind was made up. The young people, however, would be supported by Luisa’s uncle, Piero Ribera, a government engineer. He had supported his sister and her daughter for many years and considered it a privilege to do so. Franco was an imaginative youth who had never worked and seemed unlikely ever to do so. Although he had studied law in order to be free of his grandmother’s power, he spent most of his time playing the piano and composing poetry.

At the time, the provinces that would one day be Italy were trying to throw off the yoke of Austrian power. There had been several minor revolutions, but each one had been put down, and the patriots were imprisoned or killed. At last, other European countries became interested in the struggle for Italian independence and were willing to help the rebels. Franco was one of the patriots. His grandmother was a staunch supporter of Austria. That circumstance made his position doubly dangerous. Spies were everywhere; if he defied his grandmother in his marriage, she would be his personal enemy as well as his political one.

Franco loved Luisa too much to let those problems deter him, however, and so they were secretly wed. Before many hours had passed the Marchesa learned of the wedding, for she was so powerful that people willingly brought her all the news. She immediately disowned Franco—refused even to acknowledge that he existed, but what the old lady did not know was that a friend of the family had called Franco to him and showed him a letter from his grandfather, the Marchesa’s dead husband. The letter also contained a will which reflected on the morals of his wife, questioned the paternity of his son, Franco’s father, and left his fortune to Franco. Since the will was a duplicate copy, the friend felt sure that the Marchesa had knowingly concealed the original, thus cheating Franco of his rightful fortune. Franco, although stunned, refused to use the information against his grandmother and did not even want Luisa to learn of the letter.

Life was not easy for the young couple, but they were sustained by their love and by Uncle Piero’s small allowance. Meanwhile the police were becoming more active, and once Franco was arrested. Uncle Piero was also suspected. Because there was no proof of treason, no action was taken other than to warn Franco and other patriots to avoid any suspicious activities.

A baby girl born to Franco and Luisa became the joy of their lives, and they spent all of their time with her; but there was one serious question between them concerning the baby. Luisa was not a believer in God. Franco, a devout Catholic, feared that she would try to influence the child. Luisa loved her husband too much, however, to go against his wishes. She took the baby to mass and, in other ways, tried to please her husband in training the child, although she herself gave only lip service to any religious function.

Through the ill will of the Marchesa, Uncle Piero was finally dismissed from his government position. With no income, Franco was forced to seek work. Since it was becoming increasingly unsafe for him to stay where he was constantly watched, he went to a distant province. From there he sent home as much money as possible for the support of his family, which now included Uncle Piero, and for their future journey to join him when the proper time arrived. Before he left, Luisa had learned of the concealed will and begged Franco to make it public so that his grandmother would get justice for her sin. She did not want the money and would gladly have given it all away, but she felt that Franco’s grandmother should be punished for the trouble she had caused. Franco could not agree with her, and they parted under strained relations.

During his absence Luisa began to see God as Franco had wished she might, for through her love for the baby she turned at last to a faith in which everyone loves his brother, even his enemy. Although she still could not accept all the teachings of the Church, she wrote Franco that she hoped someday to have a belief as great as his. Nevertheless, she still desired revenge against the Marchesa who had made them suffer so greatly. Finally, she secured a copy of the will and approached the old lady to warn her of the knowledge she now possessed. Interrupted by a cry, she ran to find that her baby had wandered off and drowned. Luisa, almost out of her mind with grief, did not even want the child to be buried. Although Franco did not blame her when he returned, Luisa felt that she had killed the baby by leaving her alone in order to seek out the Marchesa. As a result, she turned even more violently against God and blamed Him for taking her baby as punishment for the sins of adults like herself and the Marchesa.

The Marchesa, even though she fought against her own conscience, secretly felt guilty of the sin of the child’s death. Fearing that she might soon die, she repented of her sins and called Franco to her. She had not changed entirely, however, for instead of asking his forgiveness she offered to forgive him for disobeying her. When she told him that she was making him the sole heir in her will, Franco still spurned the money. He wanted only peace with the grandmother who had reared him. Since the police were again seeking him, he soon had to flee from his home once more. His repentant grandmother helped him to escape.

Three years passed before Luisa and Uncle Piero could join Franco. Luisa had no feeling for her husband or for anyone else now that her baby was dead. Franco would soon join the army of patriots who would fight against Austria. Otherwise, she would not have gone to him in answer to his pleas. As the time drew near for them to part, however, her old love for him returned, and she went to him in passion and in humility. When Franco left her, she carried in her body the seed of a new life, symbol of a happier existence than the one Uncle Piero left peacefully after seeing his family once more united in love and in faith.

Critical Evaluation:

Antonio Fogazzaro produced a large body of excellent fiction which was of the realistic vein popular around the turn of the century. Reared in Vicenza, he had a strong link with small-town life, and most of his works combine the backdrop of provincial life with a universal realism. Fogazzaro was also a deeply religious man; this, too, is reflected in his work. THE PATRIOT, originally entitled PICCOLO MONDO ANTICO (Little world of yesterday), is part of a great trilogy of novels by Fogazzaro. Taken as a single work, it has been regarded as the greatest Italian novel since Alessandro Manzoni’s THE BETROTHED (1825-1827).

This novel traces a popular theme of the late OTTOCENTO (the nineteenth century): the quest for Italian unification which was attained in 1867 and its effects on the lives of ordinary people. The loves and misfortunes of Don Franco and his wife Luisa are constantly at odds with events taking place in the outside world.

The novel also combines a good plot with realistic characterizations and underlying themes of patriotism and religious belief. Fogazzaro’s devotion and involvement in reforming the Italian Catholic Church is reflected in subtle ways in THE PATRIOT but came to full fruition in the last novel of the trilogy, THE SAINT (1905). Although Fogazzaro may have felt that THE SAINT was his most representative work, it is THE PATRIOT which has been read and praised the most because it does not subjugate plot and characterization to philosophical beliefs. This is an excellent novel that can be appreciated in any age; although to understand it does not require a background knowledge of the real events surrounding its creation, such knowledge is always beneficial to the individual reader.

Principal Characters:

  • Don Franco Maironithe patriot
  • The Marchesa Orsolahis grandmother
  • Luisa Rigeyhis wife
  • Piero RiberaLuisa’s uncle

Bibliography

Brand, C. P., and Lino Pertile. The Cambridge History of Italian Literature. Rev. ed, Cambridge UP, 2008.

Fogazzaro, Antonio. Patriot: Piccolo Mondo Antico (Classic Reprint). Forgotten Books, 2022.

Marrone, Gaetana. Encyclopedia of Italian Literary Studies. Routledge, 2007.

"The Patriot by Antonio Fogazzaro." The Greatest Books, thegreatestbooks.org/books/13786. Accessed 20 Oct. 2024.

"The Patriot (Piccolo Mondo Antico)." Project Gutenberg, 2010, www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/33778/pg33778-images.html. Accessed 20 Oct. 2024.