Vanina Vanini

Vanina Vanini, the nineteen-year-old daughter of a Roman aristocrat, Don Asdrubale Vanini, is sought after by all the young princes of Rome, but refuses them all, for of "the same [reason] that led Sulla to abdicate: her contempt for the Romans." When she notices that her usually carefree father is taking pains to lock up one room in his palace, and that a window in that room that was closed when she left is open, she begins to investigate.