Massimilla Doni

In the waning splendor of Venice, Balzac sets a romance of beauty and ruin, where aristocratic pride survives on the edge of decay. Emilio Memmi, the impoverished heir to a noble line, moves through crumbling palaces, glittering salons, and art-filled estates as if caught between a vanished past and an uncertain future. At Rivalta, the country house of the Duchess Cataneo, he enters a world of Palladian grace, frescoes, gardens, and cultivated luxury, where Massimilla Doni's refined presence seems to unite art, nature, and desire. Their love is intense yet restrained, charged by silences, idealization, and the painful distance between worship and intimacy. When Emilio inherits the title of Prince of Varese, his new rank only sharpens his humiliation: he is a prince without money, heir to grandeur he cannot command, while Venice itself appears as both dream and decay. Around them unfold opium visions, debates on Italy and foreign rule, and reflections on talent, wealth, and corruption. In Café Florian and beyond, music, politics, sensual temptation, and melancholy mingle, deepening this richly atmospheric tale of passion, illusion, and the tragic elegance of a fading aristocratic world. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.