The Charterhouse of Parma

Returning to Gina’s story in the time that Fabrizio found himself at Waterloo, the narrator verifies her long-intensifying admiration for her nephew, owing to which she departs for Milan in order to hear news of Napoleon. She meets Count Mosca, Minister of Police in the infamously conservative state of Parma. Despite his powdered wig, which is a symbol of conservatism, he strikes Gina as simple and cheerful. Having once fought with Napoleon in 1808, Mosca explains his return to the old regime in terms of pragmatism: “one must live.” In contrast to boastful ministers like Conti, Mosca is “ashamed of the gravity of his position,” explaining to Gina that “I dress like an actor in a comedy in order to support a great household and earn a few thousand francs” (118). Gina admires Mosca’s frankness just as he does her sincerity.

The pair exchange letters about court intrigues in Parma, which interest both as a game: “One must play by the rules” (127). Gina learns of the major players in Parma: The Prince, Ranuccio-Ernesto IV, who is ruled by suspicion to the extent that Mosca looks under his bed at night for “hidden Liberals”; the Chief Justice Rassi, who stokes the Prince’s fear by keeping the famed mountaintop prison of Parma filled with prisoners; and finally the Marchesa Raversi, the leader of the opposition Liberal party and “a schemer, capable of anything” (127).