L’involuzione apparente di Paolo Cappello ne "L’innamorata" di Contessa Lara

In 1892 Contessa Lara published the novel “L'Innamorata”, which tells the love story between a Spanish circus woman, Leona, and a young count, Paolo Cappello. In the novel the character of Paolo develops in a negative way, thus, he progressive unveils his "feminine man" nature, the one of an underhand, narcissistic and egoist aristocrat who is very mean with his lover. At the end of the story, Leona takes her revenge impeding Paolo's marriage with the rich heir Margherita von Moos, which he had stipulated for economic reasons. Hence, she decides to come back to her previous life, as a happy horsewoman.