
The Virgins of the Rocks
PROLOGUE
I
II
III
A lyrical narrator finds himself drawn into the secluded world of three enigmatic sisters, each a portrait of beauty, yearning, and quiet suffering. Their lives unfold within a crumbling aristocratic estate, where every gesture and whispered word seems to echo ancient mysteries. As the observer watches them weave their days in silent labor, he senses an invisible weight pressing upon their hearts, a darkness that hints at a fate they cannot yet comprehend.
The story moves toward a long‑awaited return of a kindred spirit—a traveler from distant cities—who may bring a breath of the larger world these women have renounced. Their anticipation is tinged with both hope and dread, as they silently prepare for a reunion that could alter the fragile balance of their existence. Through richly poetic prose, the novel invites listeners to contemplate the fragile interplay of desire, memory, and the inexorable pull of destiny that lies just beyond the garden’s gate.
Language
en
Duration
~6 hours (352K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
United Kingdom: W. Heinemann, 1899.
Credits
Andrés V. Galia, Laura Natal and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Release date
2022-02-03
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects

1863–1938
A dazzling and controversial voice of Italian Decadence, this poet and novelist wrote with lush intensity and turned his own life into a kind of performance. His work moves between beauty, desire, patriotism, and spectacle, making him one of the most unforgettable figures in modern Italian literature.
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