# Gina del Dongo — The Charterhouse of Parma character guide

> Gina del Dongo in The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Gina

**First appearance:** 0001-the-charterhouse-of-parma

## Snapshot

Fabrizio's sister, a girl of thirteen who already looks eighteen and laughs too hard to eat, grows into the most charming and most dangerous woman in Parma.

## Who they are

Gina del Dongo first appears as the lively sister whose quick tears and quicker wit disarm a starving French lieutenant at her family's table, and she carries that same warmth and nerve into her marriage to the doomed Contessa Pietranera. Widowed and brilliant, she becomes the Duchessa Sanseverina, a woman whose gaiety in prosperity and serenity in misfortune make her both irresistible and formidable at court. Her fierce devotion to her nephew Fabrizio drives the novel's central intrigues, and her willingness to love, scheme, and if necessary destroy for his sake gives the book its most electric presence.

## In the story

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_charterhouse_of_parma_se/chapters/iv)

Fabrizio thinks of his aunt, 'Poor Gina,' and remembers he has not written to her since leaving Paris.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_charterhouse_of_parma_se/chapters/v)

Waits for Fabrizio at the castle with his mother and sisters.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_charterhouse_of_parma_se/characters/gina_del_dongo_young
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_charterhouse_of_parma_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_charterhouse_of_parma_se/characters