Author Description

Romola is a historical novel by George Eliot set in the fifteenth century. It is "a deep study of life in the city of Florence from an intellectual, artistic, religious, and social point of view". Florence, 1492: Columbus has sailed towards the New World, and Florence has just mourned the death of its leader, Lorenzo de' Medici. during this setting, a Florentine trader meets a shipwrecked stranger, who introduces himself as Tito Melema, a young Italianate-Greek scholar. Tito becomes familiar with several other Florentines, including Nello the barber and a lass named Tessa. he's also introduced to a blind scholar named Bardo de' Bardi, and his daughter Romola. As Tito becomes settled in Florence, assisting Bardo with classical studies, he falls crazy with Romola. However, Tessa falls crazy with Tito, and therefore the two are "married" during a mock ceremony.Tito learns from Fra Luca, a Dominican friar, that his adoptive father has been forced into slavery and is posing for assistance. Tito introspects, comparing duty to his new ambitions in Florence, and decides that it might be futile to aim to rescue his adoptive father. This paves the way for Romola and Tito to marry. Fra Luca shortly thereafter falls ill and before his death he speaks to his estranged sister, Romola. unaware of Romola's plans, Fra Luca warns her of a vision foretelling a wedding between her and a mysterious stranger who will bring pain to her and her father. After Fra Luca's death, Tito dismisses the warning and advises Romola to trust him. Tito and Romola become betrothed at the top of Carnival, to be married at Easter after Tito returns from a visit to Rome.The novel then skips ahead to November 1494, quite eighteen months after the wedding. therein time, the French-Italian Wars have seen Florence enter uneasy times. Savonarola preaches to Florentines about ridding the Church and therefore the city of scourge and corruption, and drums up support for the new republican government. Piero de' Me