Ross frowned. He hadn’t counted on this and he felt a little ridiculous for his assumption. As he contemplated this dilemma, the woman looked him over and seemed to decide he was handsome.

“You are American?”

“Yes.”

She motioned to the wooden chairs in front of her desk. “Please sit down.”

Ross came around and sat.

“You have been a tour guide before?”

“No. But I know the Uffizi well.”

“Then you are a professor?”

“No.” Ross leaned back a little from the desk. “But I know everything about the Uffizi.”

“What do you mean ‘everything’?”

“Ask me something.”

She considered his challenge. “Tell me about the gallery.”

“The Uffizi is one of the finest art galleries in the world and the first museum of modern Europe. It was officially opened in 1765, though the building and some of its art existed for nearly two hundred years before that. The building itself was constructed in 1560, when Medici duke Cosimo I commissioned Giorgio Vasari to design a grand palace along the river, with the appearance of ‘floating in air.’ The gallery has not been without its challenges. It has survived World War II, a major flood and even a bomb planted by the Mafia.” He rested. “I know everything about the Uffizi.”

“Tell me about the exhibits.”

“The Uffizi houses work from Raffaello, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Cimabue, Botticelli, as well as hundreds of other artists. Choose one.”

“Tell me about Botticelli.”

“Alessandro Filipepi, also called Sandro Botticelli, was born in Florence in 1445, where he resided until his death in 1510. Botticelli means ‘little barrels’ and was actually a nickname given to Alessandro’s older brother on account of his being overweight. Unfortunately for the Filipepi family, it stuck to all of them. Botticelli has twelve paintings in the Uffizi. They are among the most popular works of the gallery, including the Primavera, oil tempera on wood, painted for Lorenzo Medici in 1498, acquired by the Uffizi in 1919 and recently restored in 1982, and the Birth of Venus, also whimsically called ‘Venus on the Half Shell.’ The medium is tempera on linen canvas, and its patron and origins are unknown, though many experts speculate that it was also commissioned by the Medici family. This work was acquired by the Uffizi in 1815 and restored in 1987. Like the Primavera, there is controversy over the actual meaning of the work. Some say Botticelli’s works capture the essence of the Florentine woman, past and modern—the sad eyes, the lips bent with a hint of sardonic grin. It’s an appraisal with which I happen to agree. His works may be found in rooms nine to fourteen in the first corridor.”

“Bravo. That is impressive.”

“I’ve memorized the entire gallery, every painting, fresco, tapestry and sculpture; the artist, the patron who commissioned it, the date it was started and finished, its artistic significance and the year it was acquired by the Uffizi.”

The woman looked at him in astonishment. “There are thousands of exhibits. That would take many years to learn.”