Scarpia

Read's galloping story follows the history of Italy and the rest of Europe during the time of the French Revolution. The plot hangs lightly on the tale told in Giacomo Puccini's renowned opera Tosca. But Puccini's work was based on a play by an anti-clerical sympathizer to the French, and Read sets out to correct what he believes is a mistaken characterization of Tosca's Baron Vitellio Scarpia, a Sicilian soldier in the papal army. Expositions of historical fact are interrupted by brief forays into the dramatic story of Scarpia's slow rise to fame and fortune in his service to church and king. Scarpia lands on his feet in Rome, a favorite of more than one cleric with influence. Taken under the wing of the Roman aristocracy, he becomes the cicisbeo of a contessa, then marries the willful Paola, Principessa di Marcisano. In Read's view, Scarpia is steadfast and noble in his defense of his principles, which happen to align with the brutal and vengeful King Ferdinand of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, while the craven Roman aristocrats, including his unfaithful wife, throw their lot in with the French who have momentarily conquered the Papal States. The book is an excuse for immersion into the past%E2%80%94and history, more than Scarpia, is Read's most compelling character. (Mar.)