Scene 9

"You are so original, carina!" Al giggles, though he is not the least amused. He uses a patronizing tone with Venus, as if she were a child. "Very... dramatic! So much that you got my family scared that this... is not part of the play. When do you take them off? We need to invite people inside..."

But Venus won't answer. 

For the first time she looks scared. She glances at the agitation around her, and only then seems to realize the consequences of her act -- only when Al has arrived before her. Still, she won't speak when there are so many people around. She is made especially uneasy when the priest approaches them.

"Signorino Alcibiade, I believe..." The man starts.

Al reads it in her eyes, the fear and embarrassment Venus is feeling, and immediately shouts, "Everybody, move away! Now." 

People startle at his shout. They are adults, some of them local authorities -- and yet, the boy clearly expects to be obeyed. Father Alberico's only reaction is to freeze where he is, not taking another step towards the teenage couple, not saying any other word. After a moment  of confusion and doubt, the man slowly backs away. 

"Now. We need some privacy, here." He addresses his sister directly. "Go away. I'll solve this." 

FabiAnna, after hesitating a moment, decides to finally retreat, showing her discontent. Finally, only Officer Pullito stays, resting an watchful gaze on the young couple. Al waits another moment, but the policeman doesn't move, and Al shrugs. He would rather have no one listening to his conversation with Venus, but he is not so confident as to shout to the Chief police officer -- who should have arrested Al a few times, but never has.

Turning back to Venus, it seems Al can no longer be sweet with her either, after having exploded with the others. But she is looking so pretty, so innocent -- just not so fresh anymore; under the full sun, she has begun to sweat -- all dressed in white, with a crown of white flowers -- that have begun to whither -- around her head, that again he softens his tone.

"So what is this, cacarella?" He moves his hand from her hair to the chains on her wrists, inspecting them. " It's fucking sexy, you know, to have you chained like that... At my disposal... Why didn't we think of this before?" Al presses his body against hers. "See? You are turning me on..."

Though she can feel his lust envelop her like a suffocating embrace, the girl is too concentrated, and pays no attention to Al's fantasies, or to his physical excitement.

"We have to stop them, Al!" She whispers to him, with great seriousness.

"What are you talking about, Venus?" Al fakes surprise. He knows what she is talking about. But seeing the situation, it strikes him that she has actually learned about the Gardens being demolished from him.

"We can't let them destroy the Gardens, Al."

"I don't understand what you're saying... Where did you get that idea from?" He whispers like her, his voice derisively sweet. "Now. Let's start with the play. Don't you say it's your chance to prove your talent to the whole town?"

"No, Al! You have to talk to your father. You have to stop him..."

"You are mistaken, Venus. Let's get on with the play. I'll try to remember all of the words, I promise. Otherwise, you can help me. I'll be a good actor, I swear." He caresses her arm, and caresses the chains. They are old and rusty but still seem very solid, resembling grotesque abscesses growing on her delicate skin. "Just do your part of the show." He makes an effort to speak softly, trying to convince her. "Then my father will address the whole town. You will understand his plans. You will agree with him."

Venus is not paying much attention to his words. She looks transfixed at the crucifix on Al's chest. She must know something about the object, of its magical or protective powers, that makes her feel relieved. Though it hangs on the boy's chest, it seems to offer her protection -- as if it were a guarantee about Al's actions, of who he is.

He gets even closer to her, gently fondling her breasts -- and Venus gasps at such intimacy in public, and blushes.

"Al! Stop! Not here..." And she recalls having said the same words the day before, at the Roman Thermae, when they did not stop him.

"Where are the keys, Venus?" He is running his hands on her blouse, feeling her -- for the keys. But she is aware of his invasive caresses only, not of his intentions. "Where are the keys to these chains?" He demands, with authority.

Al then leans in to give Venus a kiss, who indeed softens her posture, welcoming Al's gentlest caress. Taller and stronger than her, the boy's body almost covers the girl's, and it does hide hers partially from the others.

The touch of his lips, feeling his breath mixed with hers, seems to enthrall Venus. They are connected. They are a pair. They are a team. Against the world. 

She gasps in surprise when Al reaches for her thighs, and introduces his hand between them, feeling his way up her skirt.

"Al, what...?" Venus tries to retrieve from Al's invasive touch, but she is smashed between the young man's body and the statue at her back. Between the boy of flesh and the marble boy, she can't move to the side, either, for the chains limit her movements. She offers meek resistance, pressing her thighs tighter, as Al tries to break in between them with his hand. 

"Where are the keys, Venus? Cazzo! Where are the bloody keys?" He hisses.

Venus is partially exposed now, as Al tugs at the elastic of her panties around her thighs.

Venus looks more scared than she has ever been, since that morning. 

She knows her boyfriend, no matter how mad at her, won't assault her in front of his own family. Not in front of the priest, not when they are being watched by Officer Pullito himself... But how can she be so sure? That's when she suddenly realizes they are all on his side. It's just them, the Audace family and their vassals, all around her. She is all on her own, now that the journalist has left. At their mercy. No one might raise a word if he assaults her. She sees the priest averting his eyes as Al fingers her. And she understands that they could all stand as silent witnesses of her rape. They will. She watches Al's sister moving to the back of the sculpture, where she won't see it... Giuliano, too, though further away, stands in the crowd -- to be a witness of her shame a second time... Venus foresees what is going to happen to her...

And she screams, as loud as she can, so that even the citizens of Ferrara outside will hear her.

"Al! No!" Her boyfriend is rubbing his crotch against her. Through his silk tunic, Venus distinctly feels the hardened bulge. 

"What, no?" He hisses. "How dare you?! What is your game? I should have fucked you yesterday, puttana... Did you stick those keys inside your pussy? I'll stick my dick into you, if that's how I'll find them... bitch..."

"Help!"

"Alcibiade!", we hear Signore Audace's shout. 

Apparently, Al doesn't hear his father calling him. Concluding the keys are not on Venus, he attacks the chains, trying to break them. But they are tightly wrapped and secured around Venus' body and the statue's. The way he is pulling at them hurts her. When he goes for the chains connected to her choker, she gasps for air with desperation.

"Help!" Her voice is just a puff of strangled voice. She glances around, but no one seems to realize she is choking. They are all paralyzed at Al's unexpected violence -- or perhaps mesmerized by it. It even makes him look ugly -- and not any of them have seen Al like that before. Pulling as hard as he can at the chains, in a desperate attempt to break them, they make a rattling noise. Maybe he doesn't notice -- or cares -- that they squeezing the girl's flesh, while beginning to damage the marble of the statue. 

Terrified, unable to cry any longer for help, Venus looks at the chains, too. She seems to realize what she has done, chaining herself. She is now rendered completely defenseless, and if Al no longer intends to rape her, he will definitely kill her by asphyxiation. And the local authorities will promptly voice her death was an unfortunate accident, that she herself caused, getting inextricably entangled in the chains.

"Dio mio, what is he doing? He might damage that statue!" Signore Audace exclaims. He then turns towards the mayor. "Get my son here. Now!" He commands, and the man promptly descends the stairs leading to the center of the garden.

"Alcibiade!" Signore Audace again shouts, at the top of his lungs.

coming soon

Scene 8

"The Signorino! The Signorino!"

When Al arrives on his Lambretta, escorted by the family's car, there is another commotion among the locals waiting to be seated -- and who by now know about the Lubentini girl's protest staged inside. Having all been invited by the Audace family, no one in the crowd is on her side. Aware of Al and Venus' improbable relationship, they can only hope that he will solve the situation.

From the book, we know Al is the closest thing to a celebrity that Ferraza has got. He is not just the wealthiest and best looking young man in town. Well fed, well dressed -- or well undressed, like today is his skimpy tunic --, and well educated -- tough not necessarily polite. Eighteen years of existence -- and plenty wrongdoings -- have already turned him into a local (and controversial) legend. Being Signore Audace's only son, he enjoys the privileges of his family, and all the respect, fear, admiration, deference that is devoted to his father applies to him, too.

Since his childhood, Al has been imposed on the town of  Ferraza as its favorite son. The death of his mother -- Signore Audace's second wife, some 20 years younger than him -- in the first months of the baby's life has made the orphan be informally adopted by the whole town, in a way. Willing to please Signore Audace, to either gain or thank for his favors, people have cumulated Al with presents since he was a newborn.

from this point on, a few deleted scenes, later included in the director's cut

Growing in an ambient that continually grants his wishes, Al learns to treat Ferraza as his personal territory, where he rules like a somewhat carefree, often disrespectful though very charming, prince. The first time he takes a bicycle that is not his to get home, because the family's driver is late to pick him up from school, he is not reprimanded for stealing. Once he gets home, the bicycle is simply sent to the approximate place where he picked it -- in case Al can remember where it was --, without any note of explanation to its owner. Or else, simply dumped on the main square. 

His father owning the building, Al walks into Ferraza’s only cinema any time he wants, without ever asking for a ticket – regardless the movie being appropriate for his age or not. No one will stop him, no one has ever tried. As a child, he was often given toys, sweets and refreshments when in town -- but soon he is picking them himself, choosing what he wants instead of letting people choose for him. Not just entitled to the best, but accustomed to it, Al can distinguish it better than any one, and never lets himself be fooled. It's almost as if he considered the shops and businesses to be his, when in fact just the buildings are owned by his family.

In growing up, when instead of lollipops he would only be pleased with meaty meals, Al shall sit at any restaurant in Ferraza, expecting to be promptly and abundantly served. Often inviting his friends to eat and drink with him, though they could be considered the local aristocracy, they leave without paying – or saying thanks. Al might compliment the food, if he considers it specially tasty, or a wine -- rarely, for nothing he knows beats his father's cellar. And the bill isn't sent to Signore Audace, though he will always eventually learn about such occasions, especially if something was broken or damaged, which isn't unusual at all. More than loss, it could be considered an extra rent, reluctantly but dutifully paid to Signore. 

Pleasing the socially flamboyant boy is the easiest way to content -- and grant access to -- an often distant and stern Signore Audace. While displeasing Al -- and nobody intentionally wants that, for Al is actually a good chap -- is the most certain form of walking into trouble with the wealthiest man in Ferraza. And one of the mightiest, too, his connections and influence, both visible and invisible, legal or illegal, said to encompass the whole state, even the country.

But once, Al took the Harley Davidson from a tourist, creating enormous trouble. 

It becomes the only international incident Ferraza has ever experienced. Not just for what is normally considered stealing -- Al is only 14 years old then, and not supposed to drive yet. Worse, he drank champagne at one of the restaurants in town -- and not paid for it, of course -- and isn't exact sober when he falls from the motorcycle. Minor scratches on him, but many more on the bike, with several parts broken -- while he didn't break a nail.

Instructed by his father to no longer simply take things, Al starts leaving money in place of the things he takes, as a rent, along with a note that invariably reads

Enough? 

Al

Then comes the episode of the fountain. 

The episode of his bathing in the fountain on the main square. 

Of his bathing in the fountain on the main square in front of the prefecture. 

Of his bathing in the fountain on the main square in front of the prefecture -- in the nude.

It was well after midnight. He was in this with his friends, rich and spoiled boys like him. But while the other boys were in their underwear, Al was in the nude. An anecdote of his teenage years, hadn't it been for a photographer that was passing by, coming from a wedding, and who takes many photos of the group of friends -- zooming particularly on Al's nudity. Especially when he pees in the fountain -- and, so say the worst gossipers, masturbates.

The photographer went unnoticed by the group of boys, but when he tried to sell the photos to a local newspaper, Signore Audace was readily informed -- buying the pictures himself, through the newspaper. When the photographer discovered the plot, he blackmailed Al directly -- who then had to ask his father's help to buy the original rolls. 

Since the costly indiscretion, Al has been a bit more tactful, or careful with what he calls "the commonness of the common people". But now that he is about to leave Ferraza and all the dullness of its petty morality, he feels like pissing on the face of all its narrow-minded citizens that he so despises.

end of the deleted scenes

"I have been asked to inform you of a certain situation inside. Brace yourself, Signorino. Some girl is trying to cause trouble." Ruggero pronounces girl like he were saying worm instead.

"Vittoria?" Thinking of what happened between the girls at the fountain inside the Roman Gardens, Al believes that Vittoria might have again tried to attack her half-sister Venus, who has written, directed and is staging her first play.

"I believe so."

"That bitch surely is jealous... What did she do, now?" 

That's when Al catches sight of Vittoria herself, wandering at the entrance gallery. 

"I'll talk to her. What is your name, again?"

"Ruggero, Signorino." He touches the tip of his driver's cap. "At your disposal."

Al inspects the driver, quickly but attentively. A man in his early twenties, looking threateningly elegant in his all black uniform, Ruggero wears big glasses with thick lenses that do not succeed in hiding a handsome face.  And rather masculine, too -- a nose that is pornographically big, but not disproportionate in the wide and square frame of his jaws, the ever dark shade of his beard even when he shaves, a deep chin dimple that eliminates the weakening effect of an almost delicate mouth, and the thick and dark eyebrows to compensate long, curved eyelashes any woman would kill for, but that do not stand in the way of an intense glaring fired from dark blue eyes. Alberto Tardi, who plays Ruggero, has been a photographic model until CRUX, and like Thaysa is making his debut on the screen. His good looks, enhanced by a captivating charm, is still his best talent -- was the general appreciation of his participation in the movie.

"That's good." Al comments -- after realizing he might have stared a moment too long at the chauffeur, especially in public --, before sprinting for Vittoria.

"What are you doing, Vittoria Eugenia?" He jumps in front of Vittoria, startling the girl.

"I'm waiting for you, Alcibiade. I want you to..."

"What have you done this time?" Al doesn't hide his bad hunour. He hates being called by his full name, and won't tolerate it from anyone but his father.

"I? I haven't done anything. She..." Vittoria indicates Venus -- who can actually be seen chained right behind Al, who hasn't yet spotted her. But then she shakes her head, as if changing her mind, to talk about herself instead. "I just want to say I am always on your side... I can sing, and play the harp instead of her..."

Al sees the handsome chauffeur has approached, waiting at the bottom of the stairs, and turns his back to Vittoria, who does not finish her sentence.

"What?" Al asks Ruggero, with impatience. 

Adrian Çellon has diligently sun bathed for these specific scenes, when he would be wearing the skimpy tunic, that reveals most of his chiseled body, underlining the few parts it hides. Effortlessly, he is looking like a Greek god who has descend to Earth for a stroll. Both actor and actress, playing Ruggero and Vittoria, and many of the extras sharing the scene with Al, have been instructed to marvel at his beauty -- and there is nothing to fake, really, in terms of admiration. Mr. Skandaloukos wanted Al looking his best, most confident and even arrogant, carelessly superior to everyone around him, before entering the Roman Gardens, where crux awaits him.

"I forgot to ask you but..." Ruggero eyes Al from head to feet. A bit too appreciatively, perhaps, making Al give a subtle smirk. "I don't think you have any keys on you, do you, Signorino?"

"Keys? What keys?" Al stares at the driver, trying to catch some code language he should have known of. "Do you want to search me?" He asks, jokingly. But in a second his humors changes, and he explodes in a shout. "Ma che cazzo, Vittoria! Lasciami stare! Leave me alone!" 

Trembling, the girl humbly retreats the hand with which she had been caressing Al's arm.

"I'm going in." Al says, kissing the crucifix that, day and night, awake or asleep, hangs around his neck.

Scene 7

Having a set of grandiose, fairly preserved Roman ruins for background, Al is seen leaning against a tree, under its shade. Dressed in a silk white tunic and wearing an exuberant laurel crown, he is partially hidden behind the twisted trunk.  We only see him from the chest up. The crucifix he always wears gleams -- a curious, dissonant touch to his Roman outfit. He looks bored, and impatient.

"You have to do better than that, if you really want those shoes." Al says, in a coarse voice, to someone we can't see.

Outside the Roman Gardens, Ruggero, in his all black driver's uniform, is parking a grand car just at its main entrance. He steps out straightening his jacket,  as he swiftly encircles the vehicle to open the front and back doors to let Signore Audace and his two older daughters out of the shiny, impeccably clean car.

The mayor of Ferraza, formally dressed in his best suit, wearing a hat to match and even the ceremonial sash,  approaches to solemnly greet the family. Their arrival causes a certain commotion in the crowd, waiting behind the lines at the entrance. Everybody wants to deferentially shake hands with Signore Audace. Ladies draw closer, too, willing to check how the two Audace sisters are dressed. Their clothes, the make up, the accessories -- the Audace women are the only ones in Ferraza to always (or ever, really) wear the latest fashion, coming from Rome, from Paris -- otherwise, only seen in magazines. "It's Saint-Laurent, dear..." We hear one of the sisters whisper to a woman standing in the crowd.

"Now. Why are our guests still waiting outside?" Signore Audace's tone is one that doesn't simply poses a question -- it demands an answer. He wears a full oufit in the lightest linen, very suitable for the hot, sunny day -- in an off-white tone that makes him stand out between the two other men near him, the mayor and Ruggero, who both wear black. Even between his daughters, who also seem to prefer darker colours, his is the only effortless elegance. Signore Audace's poise and good deportment have long conquered hearts -- but also work as good shields, making him the unattainable ideal of Ferraza, a man to be not just respected or envied -- feared, too.

"There... has been a minor..." The mayor pauses, in search of the best word. "...setback, Signore Audace. And we wouldn't like our people to see it." 

"I thought you said everything was set, when I phoned you last afternoon." Signore Audace retorts, a tone of controlled contempt in his voice.

"And things were perfectly fine, Signore Audace." The mayor swiftly justifies. "It happened overnight. It's... nothing, really. Father Alberico and Officer Pullito are inside and right now taking care of her. The girl will come to her senses. She has no other option, in fact."

"The Lubentini girl." Signore Audace hisses. He is not asking, this time.

"I bet she is wearing something inappropriate." Annamaria Audace -- who is a fit looking woman in her late thirties -- comments, for they all know it is Venus the mayor is referring to, Lubentini being her mother's family name. What other girl is there as inconvenient as her? Annamaria has always anticipated the play would involve some form of scandal. "Is she topless?" She asks, and laughs dryly. She is not amused to be standing under the sun, and fans herself to indicate her discomfort -- but doesn't take a single step, not when her father has remained still.

"She has been... a little more creative than that this time, madam." The mayor, whose face is covered in sweat, uses the words carefully. He stretches his neck and peruses behind the car. "Hasn't Signorino Alcibiade arrived with you?"

"His make-up wasn't ready when we left... " It is FabiAnna Audace -- a fake blonde like her elder sister, but much taller and thinner -- who speaks this time. She laughs stridently at her own wicked comment, but chokes on it upon receiving a reproachful look from her father.

Back to Al and, from a distance, we get to see the whole scene. 

His red Lambretta is parked near the abandoned ruins of what would have once been a Roman Basilica -- now resembling a wild garden, taken by vines and wild bushes and weeds. The young man is still leaning against the trunk of a tree, under its shade, partially hidden by grass growing tall and a colorful profusion of bushes blooming with flowers. It's a glorious sunny day. We hear birds chirping and singing. A light breeze blows and agitates the grass and smaller flowers, and then stops.

A boy kneels before Al. He lifts the fine tunic above Al's waist, and keeps holding it up. The boy's head, hidden in Al's lap, is bobbing back and forth. 

"Now. You want those sneakers, don't you? Then work that tongue. Earn them." 

If there is any doubt -- for the main action remains hidden from the camera behind the trunk --, upon hearing these lines the audience guesses Al is receiving a blowjob. 

"Now." Al takes the boy's head in both hands. "Oh yes! That's it. Open that mouth, man. Throat it. Come on. We've got to be quick." 

Al moans, as he pushes deeper into the boy's mouth. As the camera fixes on Al, now filming him from the waist up, we don't get to see the other boy's face. Just his curly brown hair -- and if we still remember the Roman Thermae scene, it unmistakably belongs to Al's watchdog, as Venus has named him -- Giuliano.

Feeling the pressure of Al's hands, Giuliano stops bobbing his head, allowing Al to do all the movements. Al clearly enjoys being in control, dominating. He sets the pace of his own pleasure, shoving as hard and deep as he can, holding Giuliano's head tightly. His face buried under the cloth of Al's tunic, Giuliano gags and coughs, but he doesn't seem to try to escape. It mustn't be the first time that this happens. At some point, Giuliano must have learned, like Venus, that taking it Al's way, no matter how rough or humiliating, just helps to abbreviate the action.

Though the blowjob is more suggested than shown, and Giuliano's face never shows, it was a much commented scene. Unlike Adrian Çellon, who has an insistent reputation of being bisexual, much like his character Al reveals to be, Gianlucca Tringtan, who was a soccer player before becoming an actor, has only played straight characters. His sexuality off the screens has never been questioned. He is the modern version of the Latin Lover, an accomplished macho man -- so that his performing a blowjob on another guy is a first -- to be the only -- time in his career. Gianlucca only agreed to shoot the scene if his face remained hidden, and always declined commenting it in interviews. Just once he affirmed to bitterly regretting it. He thought it "gratuitous". Some say Thaysa dared him, and might even have made the outrageous scene a condition for bedding him. Others say Mr. Skandaloukos, the ever manipulating director, dared Thaysa to convince Gianlucca -- and she absolutely loved the idea of helping to demolish one of the starkest masculine images of European movies.

Convulsing, his lips moist and open, nostrils dilated, eyelids and several facial muscles trembling, the leaves in his crown equally agitated by the breeze, Al gives a long, guttural moan, opening his mouth wide and displaying his perfectly white teeth to let the audience know of his intense -- intensely faked by Adrian Çellon -- orgasm. Giuliano's head is buried in Al's crotch, who keeps it there in a firm grip, not willing to release the other boy as he floods his mouth. 

His mouth unbearably full, Giuliano finally tries to escape Al's last trusts. When Al let go of him, we catch a glimpse of Giuliano turning his head to the side, and we hear him vomit.

"Hurry. We've got to go." Al says, straightening his tunic, checking it is not by any means stained, while with disdain he observes the other boy throwing up.

Escorted by the solicit mayor, the Audace family enters the Roman Gardens. There is hardly time to marvel at the event's decoration, or at the statues cleaned to look as white as the fine fabrics that arch from column to column, all across the yard. Sheltered from the sun in one of the side galleries, where ancient frescoes are displayed, Signore Audace and his daughters silently observe Venus chained to the boy's statue and its pedestal. She does look marmoreal herself, and if her Renaissancist beauty suits and even tops the classical statues, the rusty chains and locks wrapped like snakes in tight arches around her body, connecting it to the statue, make it a rather grotesque spectacle.

"This is outrageous!" FabiAnna breaks the uncomfortable silence.

"Only the daughter of the Lubentini bitch..." Annamaria stops her sentence when she sees Father Alberico approaching. "...of the witch can be such a witch herself."

"What has happened, Alberico?" Signore Audace is perhaps the only person in Ferraza to call the priest by his first name only. "You were responsible for censoring the play."

"And I have, Signore Audace. Haven't I read and corrected that child's poor text a thousand times, suggesting improvements to keep it mildly entertaining, while always keeping it appropriate for the families of Ferraza..." The priest is sweating, both from being nervous and the hot sun -- but he dares not climb to the gallery. "This comes as a surprise..."

"Surprise is a rather mild form of naming this." Signore Audace retorts.

"Tragedy! It is a tragedy!" Annamaria exclaims. "It is..." She falls silent to a brisk gesture from her father.

"The Bishop is on his way, isn't it, Alberico?"

"I believe so, Signore Audace. If you allow me to abandon the war front..." He points at Venus chained. "I shall meet His Excellency outside and make him wait until..." Father Alberico won't look Signore straight in the eyes -- but then, behind the lenses of his glasses that reflect the Gardens, and under the shade of his white Panama hat, Signore's eyes are hardly distinguishable.

"A teenage girl staging a protest against me!" Signore Audace laughs, to the surprise of all around him. He doesn't seem to take it as earnestly as everyone else. "So inconsequential she is. Like her mother." He frowns. "Now. Go, Alberico. I suppose you can at least handle the Bishop." Signore Audace pauses, reflecting. "Now. Send your best looking altar boy to the town's gate to intercept his car. Make them go to your church. Have him wait on the Bishop. With refreshments, sweets. Get him whatever... whomever he needs to be entertained. And then you come back here, Alberico. To handle this."

Signore Audace pauses again and, for the first time, the priest lifts his gaze from under his hat, in expectancy. 

"I hold you pretty much responsible for this, Alberico."

"As you wish, Signore Audace. I am terribly sorry, Signore." The priest bows courteously,  cautiously adding before he leaves, "There is one more thing, though. Where is Signorino Alcibiade? I believe he has the keys to the chains. He could easily put an end to this."

"Send your Nazi chauffeur after Al, father." Annamaria suggests. Her eyes glued to the scene at the center of the Gardens, she amends, "She is despicable!"

"You go, and tell him to get Alcibiade." Signore Audace refuses to call his son by the nickname. "Now." He dismisses his eldest daughter, then turning to the mayor, whom he clearly has chosen for informant. "And who is the outsider arguing with Officer Pullito? He doesn't seem to be on our side..."

"I'm afraid he isn't, indeed. He is a journalist... from Rome."

Signore Audace arches his eyebrows as he asks FabiAnna, who has gasped upon listening to such news, "What is a journalist from Rome doing here?"

It takes a moment for the woman to answer, for she is rendered breathless. "You wanted today's event to be in the newspapers, father." She tries to be defiant, but instead demonstrates clear concern with her responsibility in the current turn of the events. "What better way than inviting a Roman journalist?" She asks, doubting herself.

"Well, we certainly do not want any of this in the newspapers." Signore Audace hisses. He addresses the mayor again, without turning to face the man. In fact, unless it is to silence someone, Signore Audace never looks anyone in the face. "Now. Fetch him. I will handle the journalist. And you, Annamaria... Why haven't you dispatched the chauffeur, yet?"

Along a paved road sided with ancient olive trees and red poppies, Al is speeding his Lambretta, with Giuliano at his back. Both sit very stiff. They are not simply absolutely silent -- it looks as if one is trying to ignore the other's presence. As if they were not occupying the same space, sharing the same seat. 

Al is going too fast and a laurel leaf flies off his crown, so he decides to slow down. He'd rather preserve the integrity of his carefully studied looks than arrive in time. For he knows everybody will be waiting for him. The play cannot start without his presence. Nothing can. And thus has he calculated his triumphal entrance, jumping right to the center of stage. After their fight the previous evening, Al has decided to throw in many sentences to leave Venus both furious and speechless. He will raid all her scenes. He is intentionally not wearing anything under his tunic to distract, even shock the audience. He is leaving Ferraza in a few days, and couldn't care less if the whole town will once again be gossiping about him. 

"I'll leave you at the back entrance." Al breaks the silence. "Don't ever tell anyone that you were with me. Or you won't get those fucking sneakers from me, do you understand?"

Giuliano doesn't answer -- he won't even nod. He is just supposed to obey.

As they make a curve, they are met by a car coming towards them -- the most expensive in town, it is clearly a vehicle owned by the Audace family.

"Merda, ma che merda!" Al slows down, and for a moment seems about to make a turn to enter a side, dirty road leading up the hill. But he knows to have been spotted by whoever is in his family's car. "Cazzo!" He exclaims one last time, before the scene is cut.

"How can one probably be against a new hospital for this city?" Signore Audace asks, indignant.

"She isn't against the new hospital." The journalist answers, condescendingly, as if his interlocutor were unable to share the depth of his reasoning. "She just believes it should be built elsewhere, and the Roman Gardens preserved. They are 2000 years old, aren't they?"

"Which is old enough, don't you think?" Signore Audace gives a half smile that is not even half amused. "Ferraza needs hospital beds, not old roots. As you probably already know, the statues and these frescoes shall be removed and preserved. It is not practical to build the hospital away from the city center." 

"Practical or profitable?" 

"Rational. The new hospital will be connected to the existing one, across the street. The number of beds will more than double, while..."

"While profits will increase in the same scale, and costs be cut to half?" The journalist interrupts Signore Audace -- who at first expresses surprise, then shock, and then disgust. 

"It is unstoppable. The plans have been approved, contractors already hired. Today's announcement is a mere formality."

"Venus is unstoppable, too." The journalist looks at the girl with admiration. "She won't quit until you give up the plans of  bulldozing the gardens."

"Unstoppable, is she? I believe the person who can reason her is about to arrive."

Signore Audace overhears the conversation of his two daughters, who are saying that the girl looks about to faint, due to the scorching heat. Venus is now completely exposed to the sun, and has been chained for several hours already. The narcissus in her crown have perceptibly started to wither. 

"Don't you dare aid the girl. Let her be." He hisses at them.

"You are denying her due care, Signore Audace?" The journalist has overheard the older man's remark, and openly confronts him. "Is it the physician or the capitalist that is intently leaving the girl to dehydrate?"

"Don't you dare repeat that. I was talking to my daughter. Our interview is over. You can leave. Now. What was your name again?"

"Federico Levante. La Gazzetta Romana. You invited me here, Signore Audace. I was expecting a nicer host. But..." Federico shrugs, as if before a helpless case. "Values against money. Ideals against finances. I believe you don't see the enormity of what is happening here. In your feud." The journalist stresses the last word.

"But I do!" Signore Audace exclaims. Losing his patience, he raises his hands dramatically towards the sky, to let them fall back the next moment, regaining control. "This is not poetry, Mr. Levante. It's hospital beds against brambly bushes. It's much needed surgical installations against fallen bricks." Signore Audace touches his hat, as if biding the journalist goodbye. "Please forget Ferraza and what you have seen today, Mr. Levante. You don't really know the Lubentini girl, nor her past, and her motivation to be doing this. Let us resolve our own issues. As my guest, I ask you to leave. Voluntarily." Signore Audace turns towards the front entrance, the moment his eyes catch Giuliano discretely coming through a side door. "Now. I believe my son has finally arrived."

"Andromeda gets her Perseus?" Federico says. "I wonder..."

"Goodbye, Mr. Levante." Signore Audace turns to his daughters, giving his back to the journalist. "Any of you. Bring Alcibiade inside. Make sure he has the keys. If he left them at home, send the chauffeur immediately after them."