Wrapped in an atmosphere reminiscent of Dostoevsky's universe, the novella Giovanni Episcopal transports us to a dark Rome, a city steeped in the filth of the underworld and irreparable human passions, a city that resembles St. Petersburg more than any European capital.

Gabriele D'Annunzio crafts a delirious monologue of the Bishop, to create with admirable literary vitality the passions and fate of his hero, a otherwise restrained and proper clerk struggling to keep close what he loves.

The narrative structure of the confession far exceeds its simple technical character and represents in the best way the psyche and deadlock of his hero. Through the hero's turmoil in romantic disputes and rivalries, culminating in the criminal turn of events, the author highlights the eternal dilemma between freedom and necessity.

The narrative progresses with sobs, pauses, and deliberate repetitions that mimic the real flow of spoken language. […] Through the disjointed narrative emerges the story of a defeated man, a person who was born a slave and, despite his efforts, fails to emancipate himself.

Gianni Oliva “Ah, sir, what sadness! The man consumed by passion, who struggles caught in the claws of desire and feels it devouring him, knows he is lost and cannot, does not want to be saved… […] Tell me, tell me: What could be sadder on earth? What? […] And above all to see around you that enemy, to see him with a remarkable clarity, to discover all his traces, to guess all the erosions he causes, the hidden destructions.

To see, do you understand? To see in every person the martyrdom and to understand, to always understand and to feel within you a brotherly compassion for every wayward soul, for every suffering one, and to feel in the depths of your soul the voice of this great human brotherhood and in the street not to consider anyone a stranger… Do you understand? Can you grasp what I feel inside, I who you consider small-minded and outcast and almost foolish?”;