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Based on the monologue by Ruth Draper, The Italian Lesson chronicles the morning activities of a formidable and pretentious Park Avenue matron of the 1920s. Setting out to translate the opening lines of Dante's Inferno with her Italian teacher, she is continually distracted by her mischievous children ('Barbara darling, get the baby. She's in the waste-basket? Well, pull her out!'), her servants ('Will you try and get me some men for the opera on Monday? I have a box, but I have no men'), her gossiping acquaintances ('You didn't! A whole glass of water! What nerve! Didn't that ruin her hat?'), and the arrival of a new puppy, whom she christens Dante.
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