Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses suicide.

The White Devil is set in Rome, Italy, in the 16th century. Count Lodovico enters the stage, flanked by his friends, Antonelli and Gasparo. Lodovico has a reputation for violence and disrespect. His friends inform him that he has been banished from Rome for his many crimes, which include several murders. He has been banished rather than executed because the courts hope that Lodovico can seek penance for his sins. Antonelli and Gasparo claim that the other Italian nobles mock Lodovico behind his back and consider him to be worthless and an ill omen.

Lodovico dismisses these accusations, saying that the murders in question were mere “flea-bitings.” He also points out the hypocrisy of the Italian nobles, stating that men like Paulo Giordano Orsini (the Duke of Bracciano) have committed many shameful acts. He laments the fact that Bracciano is allowed to stay in Rome despite his transgressions. Lodovico notes that everyone in the city knows how much Bracciano lusts after Vittoria, even though she is married to Camillo. Lodovico believes that this adulterous lust is as bad as murder.