Gustav Ernst's short novel, Springtime on the Via Condotti, is a humorous treatise on modern love. On their Roman honeymoon Walter and Marianne Guschelbauer, in the flush of new beginnings (and a great deal of wine), vowed undying love at a particularly romantic moment overlooking the Eternal City. They also made specific promises which neither would forget - and which they would subsequently use to judge the success or failure of their marriage. Twenty years later they attempt to recapture their love with a return trip to Rome, the site of that honeymoon and the promises they made one special evening.