I Promessi Sposi (the definitive edition of 1840-42) is set between 1628 and 1631 in Lombardy under Spanish rule, in a village in the Lecco area, on Lake Como. After an Introduzione in which the author mentions a rediscovered manuscript (containing the story of the betrothed couple), the story proper begins, with a description of the local landscape. The first part of the plot is dominated by negative events which create obstacles for the couple, Renzo Tramaglino and Lucia Mondella, forcing them to postpone their wedding, while in the second part of the plot, various positive events end up reuniting them. The marriage between the two young people, both silk weavers, is blocked by a local squire named Don Rodrigo, who has taken a fancy to Lucia. First Don Rodrigo prevents the parish priest, the fearful Don Abbondio, from marrying them, then he arranges for his bravoes to kidnap the young woman, although by pure chance the plan fails. It is Father Cristoforo who protects the young couple. He is a courageous Capuchin friar, who tries in vain to stop Don Rodrigo, then helps Renzo, Lucia and her mother, Agnese, to flee from the village (Chapters. I-VIII). At this stage, the stories of the young couple are divided. Renzo goes to Milan, where he becomes involved in the popular uprisings and is arrested. He makes an adventurous escape, taking refuge in the Venetian Republic where he works alongside his cousin Bortolo who is also a textile worker (Chapters XI-XVII). Lucia is given hospitality at Monza by an influential nun (whose turbid tale is narrated in Chapters IX-X), but, with the help of the nun and her lover Egidio, she is kidnapped by the Innominato (the Un-named One), a brigand with a history of violence who is acting on behalf of Don Rodrigo (Chapters XVIII-XX). She is taken to the Innominato’s castle, where she is overcome with anguish and makes a vow to the Virgin Mary not to marry. But that very night there is a turning point: Lucia’s humble innocence arouses a complete change of heart in the Innominato, whose “conversion” is confirmed the following day by the words and embrace of Cardinal Federigo Borromeo who is on a visit to a nearby village (Chapters XXI-XXII).

Don Abbondio meets the bravoes. Preparatory sketch by Francesco Hayez for the illustrated edition of the novel (1839) [in Marino Parenti, Manzoni editore, Istituto Italiano d’Arti Grafiche, Bergamo, 1943]