Ugo Foscolo's The Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis is centered around the twin themes of love for homeland and romantic love—both of which are denied. The titular protagonist is driven mad in part by the fact that his mutual love with Theresa is thwarted by Theresa's father pushing her into an arranged marriage for economic and political reasons.

Foscolo published the text in 1802, shortly after the 1797 Treaty of Campo Formio, in which Napoleon—once hoped to be an ally to the Italian nationalist cause—ceded Venice to Austria. Jacopo is a political exile mourning both the loss of his homeland's hope for independence and his own personal loss of homeland via exile. He is eventually driven to suicide by the loss of his twin loves, and the book is framed by a sense of despair seen in the opening passage:

The sacrifice of our homeland is complete. All is lost . . .

Works such as this take on a political significance in part simply because of the political significance of the time in which they are written. When political control of a country shifts unexpectedly and large groups of people see their shared hopes vanish, the ground is ripe for influential artistic works that grapple with these questions. Further, in linking patriotic love with romantic love, Foscolo links the pursuit of Italian political independence to more personal, romantic freedom, thus broadening its potential appeal. Lastly, we can read the despair of the novel in multiple ways. Suicide can clearly be seen as a defeatist gesture, admitting that nothing can be done politically and framing life as unworthy of living. But, it can also be seen as implying that Italian independence is a cause so important that it is worth any cost.