A beautiful Sunday, the day of Carlo’s confirmation, began with hasty preparations of the family and guests who arrived to Vinci from all over Italy.

THE PRELUDE OF A CAPTIVATING STORY - Another weekend was coming for Ciriana, managing partner of a Rome subsidiary of a blue chip American consultancy. She was not a great fan of Friday evenings. Returning to an empty apartment from her top-floor office, with a breathtaking panoramic view of roofs and steeples of Roman churches, reminded her painfully of her solitude.

The email from Maurizio was still in Ciriana’s inbox, left untouched as though the woman feared it might be contagious,

Ciriana and Maurizio’s December 2002 was meant to be the first and the last Christmas time spent away from Florence