I promessi sposi and the origins of the modern Italian novel

The novel ‘I promessi sposi’ (The Betrothed), written by Alessandro Manzoni in 1827, is recognized by critics as the work that inaugurated the modern novel in Italy. It is considered the second most read work in Italian literature, following Dante Alighieri’s ‘The Divine Comedy’.

A notable aspect of the novel is its vivid depiction of a plague epidemic that devastated northern Italy during the early seventeenth century.