Matilde Serao: ‘The Conquest of Rome

Tells of life in turn-of-the-century Roman times. The novel’s insights into the social and political temperaments of the times makes for involving reading. –The Bookwatch An indefatigable writer and the author of over 40 books, Matilde Serao (1857-1927) was arguably the most famous Italian woman journalist of the nineteenth century. The Conquest of Rome (1885), which tells the story of the arrival in Rome of a provincial deputy from the poor South, paints a brilliant portrait of political and social life in contemporary Rome. Upon his arrival in Rome, Frencesco Sangiorgio dreams of a glittering future there. Although the Eternal City greets the young man’s ambition with indifference, he gradually makes his mark on his parliamentary colleagues, soon establishing a place in high society. His fate is sealed, however, when he falls under the sway of the enigmatic Angelica Vargas, and the conquest of Rome that seemed so tantalizingly close begins to slip away.