Vanina Vanini is a Roman aristocrat, “a black-haired girl with a fiery gaze,” who despises the timid and insignificant-hearted young people of her circle, but selflessly fell in love with the young Carbonari, whose courage and willingness to die for the liberation of Italy from the Austrians corresponds to her passion and pride. Faced with the need to make a sacrifice to duty, Vanina and Pietro, like the characters in classic literature, must choose between loyalty to their homeland and loyalty to their feelings, and this is the choice of fate. Vanina chooses love; In order to save Pietro, she betrays to the police the remaining members of the Venta he leads.