L'esule di Roma enjoyed a vogue for about a decade, and is one of the stronger scores of the pre Anna Bolena period of Donizetti's career.

The action takes place in Rome during the reign of Emperor Tiberius's The plot concerns Settimio (t), who has been exiled from Rome, on false charges brought against him by Murena (b) for obscure political reasons.

Settimio loves Argelia (s), Murena's daughter, and defies death to return secretly to Rome to be with her. Murena's conscience is deeply troubled as Settimio can prove the falsity of the charges against him, and refrains from doing so only for his beloved Argelia's sake. Settimio is arrested and sentenced to be thrown to the lions.

Murena is haunted by visions of Settimio's death in the jaws of the beasts. Setimio's noble behaviour plunges Murena into such depths of remorse that he is driven to confess his guilt. Meanwhile, word comes that one of the lions has recognized Settimio as the man who had befriended him in the wilds and spared him. Settimio's release is ordered and Murena is pardoned; whereupon Settimio and Argelia are happily reunited. Donizetti's score communicates the emotions vividly, and there is not a truly weak number. Particularly notable are the trio that concludes Act I, Murena's 'mad' scene in Act II, and Argelia's touching aria-finale.