The action begins in October 1789, ends in March 1799 and takes place mainly in northern Italy, in the vicinity of Venice. The story is a letter from the main character, Jacopo Ortiz, to his friend Lorenzo, as well as Lorenzo's recollections of Jacopo.
In October 1797, an agreement was signed between Napoleonic France and Austria, according to which Bonaparte was inferior to the Austrians Venice, and received Belgium and the Ionian Islands. This treaty crossed out the hopes of the Venetians for the liberation of their homeland from Austrian rule, the hopes that were originally associated with the emperor of France, who embodied the Great French Revolution in the eyes of the Italians. Many young Venetians who fought for freedom turned out to be included in the proxy list by the Austrian authorities and are doomed to exile. Jacopo Ortiz, who left his mother in Venice and left for a modest family estate in the Evganey Mountains, was forced to leave his hometown. In letters to a friend, Lorenzo Alderani, he mournes the tragic fate of his homeland and the young generation of Italians, for whom there is no future in their native country.
The solitude of the young man was shared only by his faithful servant Michele. But soon the loneliness of Jacopo was broken by the visit of a neighbor, Signor T., who lived in his estate with his daughters - the blonde beauty Teresa and the four-year-old baby Isabella. Exhausted by the soul, Jacopo found solace in conversations with a smart, educated neighbor, in games with a baby, in a tender friendship with Teresa. Very soon, the young man realized that he loved Teresa wholeheartedly. Jacopo also met with a friend of the family, Odoardo, serious, positive, well-read, but completely alien to subtle emotional experiences and not sharing Jacopo’s lofty political ideals. While walking in Arquois, to the house of Petrarch, the excited Teresa unexpectedly entrusted Jacopo with her secret - her father gives her in marriage to Odoardo. The girl does not love him, but they are busted; because of his political views, his father is compromised in the eyes of the authorities; the marriage with a wealthy, reasonable, trustworthy person, according to the father, will ensure the future of the daughter and strengthen the position of the T. family. Mother Teresa, pitying her daughter and daring to object to her husband, was forced to leave for Padua after a fierce quarrel.
Theresa's confession shocked Jacopo, made him suffer severely and deprived of that ghostly peace that he had found far from Venice. He succumbed to the persuasion of his mother and left for Padua, where he intended to continue his education at the university. But university science seemed to him dry and worthless; he became disillusioned with the books and ordered Lorenzo to sell his huge library left in Venice. The secular society of Padua rejected Jacopo: he ridiculed the empty chatter of salons, openly called villains as villains and did not succumb to the spell of cold beauties.
In January, Ortiz returned to the Evganey Mountains. Odardo went away on business, and Jacopo continued to visit the T. family. Only seeing Teresa, he felt that life had not left him. He sought meetings with her and at the same time was afraid of them. Once, while reading Stern, Jacopo was amazed at the similarity of the story told in the novel with the fate of young Lauretta, which both friends once knew - after the death of her lover, she lost her mind. Combining the translation of part of the novel with the true story of Lauretta, Jacopo wanted to let Teresa read this, so that she could understand how painful unrequited love was, but did not dare embarrass the girl’s soul. And soon Lorenzo told a friend that Lauretta died in misery. Lauretta became for Jacopo a symbol of true love.
But the young man had a chance to see something else too - at Signor T. he met a girl who was once loved by one of his late friends. She was married at the price of a well-meaning aristocrat. Now she struck Jacopo with her empty chatter about hats and frank heartlessness.
Once on a walk, Jacopo could not stand it and kissed Teresa. The shocked girl ran away, and the young man felt himself at the peak of bliss. However, the inevitable return of Odoardo was approaching, and from Theresa Jacopo heard fatal words: "I will never be yours."
Odardo returned, and Jacopo completely lost his peace of mind, emaciated, turned pale. As if mad, he wandered through the fields, tormented and sobbed unreasonably. The meeting with Odoardo ended in a heated quarrel, the reason for which was the pro-Austrian views of Odoardo. Signor T., who loved and understood Jacopo, began to guess his feelings for Teresa. Worrying about the young man’s illness, he nevertheless told Theresa that Ortiz’s love could push the T. family into the abyss. Preparations for the wedding had already begun, and Jacopo fell ill in a fit of severe fever.
Ortiz considered himself guilty of destroying Theresa's peace of mind. Having barely risen to his feet, he set off on a journey through Italy. He visited Ferrara, Bologna, Florence, where, looking at the monuments of Italy’s great past, he bitterly reflected on its present and future, comparing great ancestors and miserable descendants.
An important step in Jacopo's journey was Milan, where he met with Giuseppe Parini, a famous Italian poet. Ortiz poured out the soul of the old poet and found in him a like-minded person who also did not accept the conformism and pettiness of Italian society. Parini prophetically predicted Ortiz a tragic fate.
Jacopo intended to continue wandering in France, but stopped in a town in the Ligurian Alps, where he encountered a young Italian, a former lieutenant of the Napoleonic troops, who had once fought against the Austrians in arms. Now he was in exile, in poverty, unable to feed his wife and daughter. Jacopo gave him all the money; the sad fate of the lieutenant, doomed to humiliation, again reminded him of the futility of existence and the inevitability of the collapse of hopes. Having reached Nice, Ortiz decided to return to Italy: someone told him the news, which Lorenzo preferred to keep silent about - Teresa has already been married to Odoardo. "In the past - repentance, in the present - longing, in the future - fear" - so now Ortiz's life was presented. Before returning to the Eugene mountains, he stopped in Ravenna to bow to the grave of Dante.
Returning to the estate, Jacopo only briefly saw Teresa, accompanied by her husband and father. Deep mental anguish pushed Jacopo into insane acts. He rushed around at night in the fields and once accidentally knocked a peasant to death with a horse. The young man did everything so that the unfortunate family did not need anything.
Jacopo had the strength to make another visit to the T. family. He talked about the upcoming trip and said that they would not see each other for a long time. Father and Teresa felt that this was not just a farewell before leaving.
The story of the last week of Jacopo Ortiz's life was bit by bit collected by Lorenzo Alderani, including fragments of records found in Jacopo's room after his death. Jacopo confessed to the aimlessness of his own existence, to spiritual emptiness and deep despair. According to the servant Michele, most of the writing on the eve of death, his master burned. Gathering his last strength, the young man went to Venice, where he met with Lorenzo and his mother, whom he convinced that he was returning to Padua and then continued the journey. In his hometown, Jacopo visited the grave of Lauretta. After spending only one day in Padua, he returned to the estate.
Lorenzo stopped by his friend, hoping to persuade him to travel together, but saw that Ortiz was not happy with him. Jacopo was just about to meet with Signor T. Lorenzo did not dare to leave his friend alone and went with him. They saw Teresa, but the meeting passed in heavy silence, only little Isabella suddenly burst into tears and no one could calm her down. Then Lorenzo found out that by this time Jacopo had already prepared farewell letters: one to a friend, the other to Teresa.
Michele, who was sleeping in the next room, at night seemed to moan from the master's bedroom. Recently, however, Ortiz was often tormented by nightmares, and the servant did not go to Jacopo. In the morning the door had to be cracked - Jacopo lay on his bed, covered in blood. He thrust a dagger into his chest, trying to get into his heart. The unfortunate man had the strength to pull out a weapon, and blood flowed from the vast wound. The young man was dying, but still breathing. The doctor was not at home, and Michele rushed to Signor T. Theresa, learning about the misfortune, having lost consciousness, fell to the ground. Her father rushed to Ortiz's house, where he managed to take the last breath of Jacopo, whom he always loved as a son. On the sheet of paper thrown on the table, you could read "dear mother ...", and on the other - "Teresa is not to blame for anything ..."
Lorenzo was called from Padua. Jacopo in a farewell letter asked his friend to attend the funeral. Teresa spent all these days in complete silence, immersed in deep mourning. Jacopo Ortiz was buried in a modest grave at the foot of a hill in the Evganey mountains.
