"Romola" is a novel by
George Eliot, published in 1863.
The story is set in Florence during the 1490s Renaissance, a
period of intense political strife and religious upheaval following the death of Lorenzo de' Medici, the invasion of Italy by the French, and the rise and fall of the fundamentalist Dominican friar Girolamo
Savonarola.
A handsome young Greek by the name of Tito Melema, ingratiates himself with the blind scholar Bardo de' Bardi and then marries his high-minded daughter, Romola. Tito turns out to be utterly unscupulous. He robbed then abandoned Baldassare, his adoptive father. He also duped a peasant girl, Tessa, into a mock marriage.
When Tito betrays Bardo's solemn trust and indulges in unprincipled political duplicity, Romola's love is replaced with contempt and she turns for spiritual guidance to Savonarola. For some time she becomes his disciple, but rejects him when his vision of establishing God's kingdom on earth degenerates into religious tyranny.
As the plot of the novel are drawn to a climax, Tito is killed by the demented Baldassare, his adoptive father, who has found his way to Florence.
Romola finds fulfilment through self-sacrifice by caring for the sick people during an outbreak of plague and in looking after Tessa and her children by Tito, while Savonarola, from his own fanaticism, is tried for heresy and burned at the stake. Aside from Savonarola, the Eliot's other characters include Machiavelli, the artist Piero di Cosimo, and 50 or more lesser figures of the time.
George Eliot spent months researching the historical background to the story which relates to life during the Renaissance Florence.