The publication presents one of the best Gothic novels of the late 18th century - “The Italian” (1796) by the English writer Anne Radcliffe, the action of which takes place in an atmosphere of continuously changing secrets and is imbued with a keen sense of foreboding of unknown danger. The acquaintance of the young heroes of the book in the ancient Neapolitan church of San Lorenzo, where several centuries earlier the great Boccaccio met his beloved Fiametta, becomes the starting point in a series of sensational and ominous incidents. Visits of a mysterious monk to the ruins of the Roman fortress of Paluzzi, the kidnapping and imprisonment of the heroine in a remote mountain monastery, a terrible night in the company of a killer in a secluded house on the Adriatic coast, the persecution of lovers by the inexorable servants of the Inquisition - all these events lead to the revelation of the secret of the repentant confession, once pronounced in the confessional. Churches of the Order of Penitents, dressed in black. The publication of the book text is accompanied by a commentary prepared specifically for this publication.