Then one evening Alessio happened to see his daughter in a restaurant. It was not a restaurant that he was used to visiting, and both he and Fabrizia were surprised to see one another there. He, in particular, was taken aback by the fact that she had a young man with her. 41

The young man stood up politely when Alessio approached the table, and the older man knew immediately. The young man was a Southerner, a Neapolitan, no doubt. He could tell. He had never been wrong about things like that.

Alessio stared at the gold chain around the young man’s neck, and the small charm it bore that was supposed to ward off the evil eye, a tiny gold cornicello, or horn. This would never be worn by anybody from the north, where belief in such things was looked down upon; Northerners, in his view, had no time for such superstitions – and quite rightly too.

There was a tense exchange of words between the two men, about nothing in particular. The young man was called Salvatore, and he had intense green eyes, which he focused on Alessio. The older man, however, could not bring himself to return this frank stare. He looked at his daughter instead, almost begging, as if to say to her, ‘Please tell me that this young man is nothing to you, a casual friend.’ But of course the look that she gave her father implied the opposite, and he knew then, with complete certainty, that this young man was to be his son-in-law.

He was not surprised, therefore, when Fabrizia came to him three weeks later and announced that she wished to marry Salvatore.

‘I know what your views are about people like him,’ she said. ‘No, don’t try to deny it, Father. You don’t like Southerners. You just don’t. It’s so unfair on people like Salvatore.’

Alessio looked down at the ground. He could hardly deny the truth of her words; after all, he had never hesitated to express his views to her, even when she was a child. He had impressed upon her, time and again, the need to distrust those from the south. In fact, he had tried without shame to shape her views – and now she had reacted by choosing to marry a Southerner. It had been a bad mistake on his part. One cannot tell one’s children what to think, he had read; try to do that, and you’ll lose them. They’ll do the opposite – the exact opposite – of what you want them to do. Be careful. He had paid no attention to this advice, and this was the result.

He looked up at his daughter. You are so dear to me, he thought; you are my world. You and my shops – our little world.

She looked back at him. I didn’t choose him just because he’s a Southerner, she thought. You imagine that I did, but it’s not that. I love this man. Where he’s from is nothing to do with it. Nothing. 43