Project Gutenberg 2007-03-29 Public domain in the USA. 357 Hewlett, Maurice 1861 1923 Hewlett, Maurice Henry 99004550 Little Novels of Italy Madonna of the peach tree -- Ippolita in the hills -- Duchess of Nona -- Messer Cino and the live coal -- Judgment of Borso. Produced by Thierry Alberto, Juliet Sutherland, Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Little Novels of Italy" by Maurice Hewlett is a collection of short stories written in the late 19th century. The stories transport readers to Italy, offering rich depictions of characters and the complexities of life, love, and society. The opening tale focuses on Giovanna Scarpa, a beautiful young woman of Verona, whose humble beginnings as a washerwoman complicate her quest for love and marriage amidst societal expectations and economic hardships. The opening of the book presents Giovanna, known as Vanna, who is burdened by her family's financial situation and her father's lackadaisical approach to life. Despite her beauty and virtue, the story illustrates how her lack of a dowry detracts from her desirability in the marriage market. As Vanna navigates her daily life, she becomes the focus of Baldassare Dardicozzo, an older merchant who, enchanted yet confounded by her allure, contemplates marriage despite the significant age difference. Their interactions, filled with humor and societal commentary, set the stage for the unfolding drama of love, sacrifice, and the clash of personal desires with familial and societal expectations. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 80.3 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Italy -- Social life and customs -- Fiction PR Text Browsing: Culture/Civilization/Society Browsing: Literature Browsing: Fiction Category: Short Stories 545720 2025-06-09T04:08:15.638767 text/html 554711 2007-03-29T11:41:04 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 215376 2007-03-29T11:41:04 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 301688 2025-06-09T04:08:25.447723 application/epub+zip 306451 2025-06-09T04:08:18.207769 application/epub+zip 306452 2025-06-09T04:08:16.642750 application/epub+zip 548137 2025-06-09T04:08:31.282651 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 495700 2025-06-09T04:08:24.338685 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 451224 2022-09-10T04:56:46.352507 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 501958 2025-06-09T04:08:14.439848 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 501881 2007-03-29T11:41:04 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 204323 2007-03-29T11:41:04 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 501885 2007-03-29T11:41:04 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 204220 2007-03-29T11:41:04 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 20673 2025-06-09T04:08:31.440667 application/rdf+xml 13901 2025-06-09T04:08:17.246724 image/jpeg 3957 2025-06-09T04:08:16.940727 image/jpeg 281681 2025-06-09T04:08:15.686791 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia