The Last Austrian Who Left Venice
Anthony Trollope's "The Last Austrian Who Left Venice" opens in Venice in spring 1866, when Venetian hatred of the occupying Austrian garrison has reached its peak, the two peoples living side by side without ever mingling. Austrian Captain Hubert von Vincke, an artillery officer who came to Venice for his health and stayed on, has learned Italian and entered Venetian society through his friend, the young advocate Carlo Pepé, becoming intimate with Carlo's household in the Campo San Luca: his mother, the Signora Pepé, and his sister, Nina. By April, Nina and Von Vincke have fallen in love and, with the Signora's uneasy consent, begun to speak of marriage. Meanwhile Carlo, growing ever more absorbed in the coming war for Italian independence, makes secret journeys to Bologna to help organize Venetian volunteers. At a breakfast at the Hotel Bauer, Carlo predicts Austria's defeat, and Von Vincke rebukes him for speaking so openly. Afterward, in the piazza, Von Vincke asks Carlo's consent to marry Nina; Carlo refuses, insisting union between an Austrian and a Venetian is impossible with war imminent, and forbids him the house. Nina and her mother, though loyal to Von Vincke personally, share Carlo's national feeling. When Carlo announces he is leaving Venice to serve as second colonel in a volunteer regiment under Garibaldi, Nina promises him she will not see Von Vincke again until Carlo returns, is killed, or the cause is won. She is granted one farewell meeting, in which she tells Von Vincke she cannot marry an enemy of Italy while the war continues, refuses his embrace, and vows no man will kiss her until Venice is Italian; they part without resolution. Carlo departs to join Garibaldi's volunteers fighting in the Southern Tyrol. The narrative recounts the war's course: the Italian defeats at Custozza and Lissa, Garibaldi's volunteers sent into the mountains with inadequate support, and the eventual truce. Carlo writes home wounded but recovering, bitterly denouncing Italian and Austrian leaders alike as traitors, disillusioned that Venetia's cession to Italy comes through diplomacy rather than Italian arms. By September it is confirmed that Austria will cede Venetia. Nina, having kept her word to Carlo, resolves to seek out Von Vincke and travels alone to Verona despite obstacles from both her mother and lingering Austrian travel restrictions. She finds him severely wounded from the battle of Custozza, having lost an arm and bearing a facial scar, in an Austrian hospital, expected to remain behind when Austrian forces withdraw. At his bedside, an awkward, guarded exchange follows until Von Vincke presses her on why she came; Nina finally confesses she sought him deliberately, kneeling and telling him she has succeeded in what she set out to do — that Venice has been won for her. Three months later, in mid-December, with Venetia fully ceded to Italy and Victor Emmanuel's entry into Venice completed, the Pepé family and Von Vincke gather for a farewell breakfast at the Hotel Bauer: Nina is to leave for Trieste the next morning as Von Vincke's wife, having chosen to become Austrian now that he has lost his province. Carlo and Von Vincke banter about the war's outcome, and the story closes with Von Vincke's remark that, having learned he will be the last Austrian soldier to leave Venice, he counts himself the most triumphant of all who ever entered or left the city.
By Anthony Trollope · First published 1877 · Genre: Historical Fiction, Drama, Mystery · 10,188 words
First lines
In the spring and early summer of the year last past -- the year 1866 -- the hatred felt by Venetians towards the Austrian soldiers who held their city in thraldom, had reached its culminating point. For years this hatred had been very strong; how strong can hardly be understood by those who never recognise the fact that there had been, so to say, no mingling of the conquered and the conquerors, no process of assimilation between the Italian vassals and their German masters.
What this Textopian page supports
The Last Austrian Who Left Venice is listed on Textopian as a novella by Anthony Trollope, dated 1877 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Novella
- Author: Anthony Trollope
- Date: 1877 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Drama, Mystery, Adventure, Romantic Fiction
- Length: 10,188 words
- Structure: 1 section, 206 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for The Last Austrian Who Left Venice by Anthony Trollope
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph
Similar titles
- Lady Kilpatrick by Robert W. Buchanan
- Major Wilbraham by Hugh Walpole
- A Procession Of Umbrellas by Francis Hopkinson Smith
- The Beguiling Of Peter Griggs by Francis Hopkinson Smith
- An Old Meerschaum by David Christie Murray
- Tales From Dickens Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens
Genres
- Historical Fiction — Given Anthony Trollope's reputation for detailed, realistic historical narratives and the specific historical setting indicated in the title - Venice.
- Drama — Trollope's works often involve conflicts between individuals and society, with heightened tension and emotion which aligns with characteristics of drama.
- Mystery — The title suggests an intriguing circumstance – the 'last' Austrian leaving Venice, which may imply a mystery to be solved.
- Adventure — The act of leaving a place like Venice and the notion of being the 'last' of a group indicates potential adventurous elements in the story.
Tags
historical fiction · Venice · Austrian culture · 19th century · identity · migration · nostalgia · cultural conflict · family dynamics · social commentary · European history · exile