Chapter 9
Amalfi, 1939
“Maybe we’ll be married in the spring,” Lauro said to Signore and Signora Ferrara, friends of his parents. He searched the crowded salon for Isabella.
The Savoia family and close friends had gathered for the traditional Christmas Eve feast of the seven fishes at his parent’s villa. Savory aromas of sautéed fish, clams, and oysters wafted from the kitchen. After fasting all day, which was their custom until after midnight mass, Lauro was starving.
“That’s a surprise,” Signora Ferrara said. “You’ve proposed?”
“Not formally,” Lauro confided, feeling nervous. “But her father just gave me permission to ask her.”
Candlelight flickered in the grand salon, and outside, the haunting harmonic sound of the local shepherds, the zampognari, playing their bagpipes floated to
