So there they were, young and old and some in the middle, shadows and candlelight, freeze-framed, with glasses raised.
To this moment, he said, looking at Evelyn. She smiled.
To this moment, they all said.
At the approach of Christmas, the students began to depart. Jem was on his way to the station with Alys when he caught sight of Massimo on the concourse. Massimo wasn’t there to say goodbye but to persuade Jem to stay. Till term restarted, that’s all. Not much persuasion needed. Jem thought Massimo handsome and the easiest man in the world to talk to. （He really said that? He really did, said Alys.） The three of them walking back across the square.
Well, I’ll be … said Cress, looking through his telescope on the terrace. Jem’s come back, he said.
Not surprised, said Evelyn. We all came back.
You staying with us for Christmas, Dotty? said Ulysses.
I’ll be here, Temps. Scrubbing Dante next to my Swedish muse.
Music drifted in from the other room. It was Pete and his ‘Lament for Vietnam’。 People quieted to listen to Pete.
Christmas Eve saw the Pope giving midnight Mass at the Duomo but the gang from the pensione weren’t there. They were coming out of the cinema. Last episode of the Trilogia del Dollaro. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
That Ennio Morricone, said Massimo.
I think he’s completely redefined the cinematic soundtrack, said Jem.
Ulysses and Pete laughing. Made for each other, whispered Cress.
A slow nocturnal wander across the river. The water black and tame and the lights of the city pulsing quietly on the glassy surface.
Happy, Lynny?
Evelyn nodded. You?
Nowhere I’d rather be.
A late supper at the newly reopened Michele’s. Nina Simone on the jukebox and a photograph of Des pride of place on the wall above the coffee machine. Biciclette all round and eight for spaghetti alle vongole, if you please. The basilica emptied out and crowds gathered in the square for the Christmas hour. Alys walking back across the stones with her guitar. Like old times, said Giulia, and her hand brushed against Ulysses’。 Faint, but still that flicker.
The first anniversary of the flood brought everyone back as promised. Even Des returned with Poppy. Some of the best days of my life, he said. And wouldn’t they all say that in time? The shared loss became the shared bond. Thousands walked down from the church of San Miniato al Monte to the Ponte alle Grazie in a candlelit procession. That was something, that was. By then it was known that in Florence, thirty-three people had lost their lives, 50,000 families their homes, 15,000 cars had been destroyed, 6,000 businesses lost, and the mighty shift of the working artisanal class had begun. The floodwater had travelled at 40 miles an hour and had left behind 600,000 tons of mud – a ton for every citizen. 1,500 works of art had been destroyed or wrecked beyond repair and a third of the National Library’s collection damaged. It would take twenty years before restoration work on many of these items would be completed. Some would take longer. And the cause? Investigations into the massive release of water by both the Levane and La Penna dams resulted in shifting blame and would be a bone of contention for years. Lots of conspiracy sprang up in that unaccountable schism.
But everybody was questioning everything by then. Strikes and protests flared up across the country and students occupied the universities. Goodbye authoritarianism, hello civil rights. A new ideology was taking place and the young left no stone unturned: family, church, Communism, Fascism. You name it, they challenged it. Divorce and abortion were back on the agenda and the Catholic right balked.
On a lighter note, Michele’s acquired a piano. It used up the last of Des’s money, but it was that or a billiard table and Giulia put her foot down, especially when she knew that Pete was staying for good.
I Do Love Nothing in the World So Well As You
1968–79
Pete began his new working life at Michele’s at the beginning of ’68. Massimo photographed him for his publicity pictures and those early posters reflect a brooding presence of genius. Slightly soft focus due to the fag smoke, but they did the trick. He picked up gigs at basement clubs and the odd hotel, no shortage of older women queueing up to be on Pete’s arm. They’re the future, he said.
Massimo took a sabbatical in London to be with Jem, who was now a junior doctor at UCH. He was still worried about the age difference, but the elderly contessa reassured him, saying, As long as there’s still grass on the pitch … Col stayed on the look-out for the demolition teams and got to know Cressy’s cherry tree and tree said, What took you so long? – something a woman would say to him in the not-too-distant future. Ted got a new car and Ted got a mistress and Peg learnt to drive when he was away. But that’s a story for another day. Alys began an apprenticeship making globes and she was a natural and Ulysses was stoked. Him and her having coffee together in Piazza dei Sapiti. Life couldn’t be sweeter. By March, Cress was back in his shorts, which was regarded with the same enthusiasm as the return of the swallows – something you could rely on in an ever-tumultuous world. He was gearing up for Apollo’s first orbit around the moon and was thinking big thoughts the day Martin Luther King was assassinated. Cress howled and birds flew out from the campanile.