Dr. Masters – “The Italian”

 

Ann Radcliffe’s Italian seems to be referring to the monk, father Schedoni, who is the stereotypical Italian villain.  He’s not in the Mafia, but he is a monk, a religious zealot with evil tendencies.  The Italians were depicted as either scumbags or the elite who owned castles or villas.  In this story, we have one of each.

 

Vivaldi sees this monk who seems to disappear quite suddenly and it happens to always happen at the site of a tower that is in ruins:  an archway much like the ones we walk through every day here in Spoleto.  This mysterious villain-type person is also a monk.  The Catholic Church is centered in Rome and most of Italy is Catholic.  This monk is Dominican and supposedly must earn his keep through preaching and were known as “the Hounds of the Lord.”  This order of the church could have some mysterious elements to an English person who considered the Roman Catholic Church to be in error.  The Gothic architecture lends itself very well to the menacing wicked ways of the Church and what those evil priests are capable of.