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The use of Signore was even more surprising than when she had called me by my first name.
Signor means ‘mister’ when attached to a name, such as ‘Signor Rosolini’ –
But Signore is far more respectful when used as an immediate address.
It can mean anything up to ‘lord.’
For a grand donna of the Cosa Nostra to address me in such a fashion –
It was a rare honor, indeed.
“The only price I ask is your friendship, Signora,” I said respectfully.
“You already have that for saving my life,” she assured me. “Now go – return my granddaughter to me safely!”
8
When people think of Venice, they usually picture a man in a striped shirt using a pole to push a gondola through the city’s canals.
These days, gondola rides are the stuff of romance and millions of selfies.
What isn’t immediately obvious is that gondolas were the only way to get around the city for a thousand years.
Venice – or Venezia, in Italian – is composed of 118 islands of various sizes crisscrossed by 150 canals. The only way around is on foot or by boat.
There are no cars. Plenty of streets for walking, yes, but all automobiles are banned – as are bicycles, motorcycles, skateboards, and rollerblades. The streets are just too narrow for anything but pedestrian traffic.
Which is how I found myself speeding through Venice in a motorboat in the middle of the afternoon.
The Widow’s home was on the northernmost tip of the city; Lucia’s university was smack dab in the middle. So Roderigo and I took off with four other men from the pier outside the Widow’s palazzo.
Thirty seconds into the trip, we were going a lot slower than I would have liked.
“Can’t this thing go any faster?” I asked Roderigo, who was piloting the boat. He was a stout guy with a head of black hair that was iron grey at the temples.
“It can,” he answered, “but the speed limit on these smaller canals is 7 kilometers an hour.”
Three miles per hour.
Jesus Christ.
“Look, we need to get there now,” I said – urgently but politely.
Roderigo shook his head. “The cops are pretty strict around here. If a police boat stops us, we’ll spend 15 minutes waiting for the asshole to write us a ticket.”
I stared at him in astonishment. “You don’t pay them off?”
“Yeah, but this ain’t Florence. We gotta keep up appearances – we can’t just go tearing around as fast as we want.”
I ignored the implied dig at my family. “Today isn’t an ordinary situation.”
Roderigo pointed at the side of the canal, which was almost within arm’s reach of the boat. “You can get out and walk if you want,” he said snidely.
At the rate we were going, it would have been faster.
But I didn’t say that.
And I didn’t say anything when the other four suits in the boat started chuckling.
