A New Approach to an Old Question: On the Characters of Manzoni's I PROMESSI SPOSI

The article engages in the critical debate on the interpretation of the system of characters in Alessandro Manzoni's I promessi sposi (1840). After a summary of some well-known schematic representations of the novel based on the function that the characters have in the development of the story (i.e., Italo Calvino 1973, Franco Fido 1974, Feruccio Ulivi 1974, and Angelo Marchese 1987), the article suggests a different approach to the question, based on the analysis of the occhiello, the illustration embellishing the title page of the 1840 edition of I promessi sposi. The image — based on an original drawing by the painter Francesco Gonin — is interpreted as a metaphorical representation of the relationships among characters developed by Manzoni. After an analytical description of the illustration, proposing its ideal subdivision into vertical and horizontal axes that serve to connect characters and narrative episodes, the article concludes on the importance of the occhiello as part of the set of engravings that illustrate the novel.