6 h 25 minAudiobook5 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Church bells ring, old gods linger, and even the pious have worldly desires.
In The Well of Saint Clare, Anatole France gathers tales set largely in the Italy of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Saints, sinners, scholars and ordinary townspeople share a world of city feuds, holy hermits and stubborn appetites. Old legends become a way to explore the distance between what people profess and what they want.
France approaches faith and doubt with wit rather than haste. His narrators speak calmly, then a small remark reveals a hidden desire. Christian traditions meet the pagan past of Greece and Rome, while wells, gardens, relics and humble creatures carry meanings beyond themselves. The pleasure lies in watching these details quietly change how you see a person or an idea.
What you’ll discover
- Italy as legend Enter streets where church bells, worldly appetites and the memory of old gods meet.
- Wit beneath courtesy Enjoy calm, polite narration that lets a small remark expose a character's deeper wishes.
- Faith beside doubt Explore piety and desire through tales that treat human contradictions with a gentle touch.
- A living pagan past Discover how the tales place Christian faith beside older traditions, in ruins, churches and scholarly interests.
- Quiet objects, larger meanings Notice how a well, garden or humble creature can hold the weight of an idea.
Who will love it
For readers who love Italian history, saints and sinners, and gentle irony. If Boccaccio's world, Franciscan legends or a Devil who argues better than the priests appeal to you, these tales are yours.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- An old friar tells tales at a well
- A sad monk watches nymphs rise from a tomb
- A goat-footed saint explains his strange sainthood
- Guido Cavalcanti marries Philosophy and shuns his friends
- A painter’s Devil and a banker’s public honor
- Buffalmacco turns pranks into little works of art
- Beauty, mercy and a pledge in three short tales
- Fra Giovanni, the holy fool who answers the Devil
- Lovers, a young general and what links these tales
Who’s who
- Father Adone DoniAn elderly Franciscan scholar with unusual beliefs, who sits at a dry well near Siena and tells the writer the stories of the book.
- Fra MinoA young learned monk and poet who governs a monastery and cannot rest after a night vision in a chapel.
- San SatiroThe last satyr, now a saint, who lives in a marble tomb with the old spirits of the woods.
- Guido CavalcantiA handsome Florentine noble who gives his heart to philosophy and the wisdom of the ancients.
- BuffalmaccoA Florentine painter and gifted prankster who fools his master, an abbess and a physician.
- Fra GiovanniA simple Franciscan of Viterbo who gives everything away and is tempted by the Devil in disguise.
- Catherine of SienaThe fuller's daughter, known for her holiness, whom the magistrates send to calm a condemned man.
- Fabio MutinelliA ruined Venetian merchant who offers the Madonna herself as security for a loan.
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Le Puits de Sainte Claire in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Le Puits de Sainte Claire
by Anatole France · 1895
A monk in a dark chapel sees nymphs rise from a tomb, and a goat-footed saint explains why.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
A monk kneels in a dark chapel at midnight, and white shapes of women rise from a tomb. This scene comes in San Satiro, the first of the tales in The Well of Saint Clare by Anatole France.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
An old friar tells tales at a well
In Siena, a writer working in the archives meets Father Adone Doni on his evening walks. This Franciscan hopes that even the Devil may one day be forgiven. He listens to orange sellers to learn true Tuscan speech.
Adone sits at a dry well outside the Roman Gate. He tells how Saint Francis rests here after the Sienese drive him away. Worried about Clare, Francis sees her joyful face in the water. His doubts vanish, and the well takes her name.
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What is The Well of Saint Clare about?
It is a collection of tales set mostly in medieval and Renaissance Italy, told by an old friar beside a well near Siena. They deal with saints, devils, painters, merchants, lovers and one general, always with irony and warmth.
Who is Father Adone Doni?
He is the Franciscan scholar who tells the stories in the opening frame. He has odd, gentle opinions, hopes the Devil may someday be saved, and meets the writer each evening on the road to Monte Oliveto.
Why is the well called the Well of Saint Clare?
In the friar's tale, Saint Francis rests here after being driven out of Siena. Worried about Clare, he sees her shining face in the water, and his doubts disappear. The well is named in her honor.
The author
Anatole France
1844–1924 · French novelist
Anatole France (1844–1924) was a French novelist, poet and essayist. He was born in Paris and died in Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire, France. His novels include The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard (1881), Thaïs (1890), The Red Lily (1894), Penguin Island (1908) and The Revolt of the Angels (1914).
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