I Will Have Vengeance (25 page)

Livia took a few more steps, then said to the wind and the upturned coat collar: “And I, what can I do? Don't you see that I am now the honoured widow of a great man? I would become a vile ingrate who spits on someone who can no longer defend himself.”

“Think of the child, Livia. Think of the opportunity you have to give this child a family and a hope for the future. If you want, if you like, think about your child as well, about what he would ask you to do, if he were alive.”

The woman squeezed the arm she was clinging to. She sighed in the wind that blew her hair about.

“And you? What about you? Don't you have a hope for the future? Why not give me your hope, let it become mine as well?”

They walked on in silence. They found themselves back at the entrance to the hotel. The desk clerk, behind the glass door, looked at them, puzzled.

Ricciardi stopped and looked at Livia, there in the wind and sea.

“It's not my time, Livia. Not my place. You have a right to be happy, you're entitled to the good fortune that you haven't had. You're beautiful, Livia, and young. You have that right; I don't yet.”

Livia looked at him through the drops of sea spray and tears, and smiled.

“All right. I'll be there too, in court. I'll do it for my Carletto. And for you.”

And she stood and watched him walk away, in the wind and sea.

 

The young woman who sat embroidering felt the grip of anxiety loosen in her chest. Even before raising her eyes from the embroidered pattern, she knew that the curtains in the window across the way had opened.

As she went on embroidering, Enrica smiled.

T
he year is 1931, the period of Mussolini's fascist regime. In fact, the regulation portraits hanging in Commissario Ricciardi's office (Chapter III) are those of the King and
Il Duce
: the wry references are to the small physical stature of Victor Emmanuel III of the House of Savoy, King of Italy from 1900 to 1946, and to Mussolini, known as
Mascellone
or Big Jaw, and his cult of macho strength. The ‘so-called coffee' at the end of that chapter was an ersatz coffee used at that time, a coffee substitute made from roasted grain.

Pizza fritta
(Chapter IV), Ricciardi's favourite lunch when he's not enjoying a
sfogliatella
, is a popular Neapolitan street food that enjoys a cult-like reverence among the locals: the toppings are sealed between two layers of pizza dough and deep-fried until crispy.

The “little monk,”
munaciello
in Neapolitan dialect (Chapter V), is the bizarre spirit who always behaves in an unpredictable way and who is the source of infinite urban legends and popular sayings.

The lines “
Io sangue voglio, all'ira m'abbandono, in odio tutto l'amor mio finì
. . . ” (I will have vengeance, My rage shall know no bounds, And all my love Shall end in hate), first quoted in Chapter VI, are from
Cavalleria Rusticana
, Act One, Scene IX.

The seamstresses in the theater's wardrobe department use charcoal irons to iron the costumes (Chapter VII): the base of these irons was a container in which glowing coals were placed to keep the iron hot.

In Chapter VIII, the Carso, Kras in Slovenian, is a plateau in southwestern Slovenia and north-eastern Italy.

The “dolesome notes” in Chapter IX are from Dante's
Inferno
, V: 25-27: “
Or incomincian le dolenti note / a farmisi sentire; or son venuto / là dove molto pianto mi percuote.
” They have been variously translated as “the dolesome notes” (Longfellow), “notes of desperation” (Mandelbaum), and even a “choir of anguish” (Ciardi).

The barefoot children racing in the wind in Chapter XII, their too-large, hand-me-down shirts billowing like sails, are playing “
barca a vela,
” pretending to be sailboats.

The crystal bottle and four cordial glasses in Garzo's office (also Chapter XII) are for serving
rosolio
, a popular Italian liqueur derived from rose petals.

The mention of Verga in Chapter XIII alludes to the fact that the libretto for
Cavalleria Rusticana
is adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga, based on his short story of the same name; it is considered one of the classic
verismo
operas. Prevalent in late nineteenth-century Italy, veristic operas tended to feature passions which ran high and led to violence.

In the same chapter (XIII) Maione gives Ricciardi a military salute because at that time the Polizia di Stato was a military force; it became a civil force in 1981, with the enactment of Italian State Law 121.

The Funicolare Centrale (Chapter XVIII) was a funicular railway line that opened in 1928. Also in this chapter (XVIII), Irpinia, a region of the Apennine Mountains around Avellino, is mentioned as the site of the 1930 earthquake. Avellino, a town in Campania, Southern Italy, is about 25 miles east of Naples. The Pollino (chapter XXV) is a mountain range in Calabria.

The Sicilian serenade which don Pierino summarizes for the Commissario (Chapter XXVII) is in dialect: “
E si ce muoru e vaju ‘n paradisu / si nun ce truovo a ttia, mancu ce trasu . . . ] [O Lola c'hai di latti la cammisa / si bianca e russa comu la cirasa, / quannu t'affacci fai la vucca a risa, / biatu pì lu primu cu ti vasa! / Ntra la puorta tua lu sangu è spasu, / ma nun me mpuorta si ce muoru accisu . . . / e si ce muoru e vaju ‘n paradisu / si nun ce truovo a ttia, mancu ce trasu.
” O Lola, with your milk-white blouse, / white-skinned, with lips like cherries / your laughing face looks from the window, / and the first one to kiss you is blessed! / Blood may be spilt on your doorstep, / but to die there is nothing to me. / If, dying I went up to heaven / and found you not there I would flee!

The reference to the passing of “a rare car” (Chapter XXXI) denotes the fact that carriages or trams were the prevalent mode of transportation at the time, rather than automobiles. According to the author, Naples was a city characterized by great wealth in the hands of a few aristocrats and great poverty on the part of the proletariat; a merchant middle-class was just developing, so cars were still uncommon.

Also in Chapter XXXI, Maddalena explains that her name is Esposito because she was abandoned when she was born: the author clarified that the surname Esposito derives from the Latin ‘expositus', exposed, since abandoned newborns were ‘exposed', displayed, for a few hours to allow their real mothers to change their minds and reclaim them. Once that period of time was over, the orphaned babies were entrusted to the care of institutions or convents, or given up for adoption with that surname. In effect it was a kind of brand or label.

Finally, I was curious about why Ricciardi puts on a hairnet before going to bed. The author, who scrupulously researched the historic details found in the novel, explained that it was a widespread custom among the bourgeoisie of that era. Hair was washed relatively infrequently, and fixatives such as brilliantine or other preparations were commonly used. That, coupled with the fact that Ricciardi doesn't wear a hat in the blustery wind, means that he has to use a net to hold his hair in place during the night. Despite the hairnet, that wayward strand of hair insists on escaping and falling over his eyes.

 

Anne Milano Appel

T
here are a few people Ricciardi must thank for the fact that he is here.

First of all, Francesco Pinto and Domenico Procacci, for their lucid, intrepid minds. Rosaria Carpinelli, whose attentive hand is present in the text from the first to the last word. And Aldo Putignano, a man who can fly while keeping his feet on the ground.

He must also thank Michele for his constant assistance, and Giovanni and Roberto who give meaning to everything.

Finally, speaking for myself and not just for Ricciardi, an immeasurable expression of gratitude goes to my dearest Paola.

M
aurizio de Giovanni lives and works in Naples. In 2005, he won a writing competition for unpublished authors with a short story set in the thirties about Commissario Ricciardi, which was then turned into the first novel of the series. His books have been successfully translated into French, Spanish and German, and are now available in English for the first time.