The Valley of Decision Book I - The Old Order - Section 1.9

In which a young Odo forms a stimulating friendship with the passionate and complex Vittorio Alfieri, finding both companionship and inspiration amid the austere yet stirring world of classical art and ideas. Their encounters, especially under the venerable tutelage of Count Benedetto Alfieri, awaken in Odo a delicate consciousness of ideals and a subtle dissonance with the constrained, ornamental religiosity surrounding him.