Photo taken by author

I had been walking around the streets of Venice all day. It was almost sunset and I needed to sit down – anywhere. I took my sandals off and dangling my feet over the edge of a canal, I flopped down. I looked around me, barely taking anything in, but then a gondola anchored to an almost derelict building caught my eye and held my gaze. Its black and red paint was perfectly reflected in the green water of the canal. It was just another gondola yet somehow I could not take my eyes off of it and its reflection. I was mesmerized.

Suddenly the reflection seemed to be becoming blurry and a mist was rising from the water. It was dark and through the mist the gondola seemed to form part of the shadows – a ghost of its present self. A man came out of the adjacent building, clad in black from head to foot with a cape around his shoulders, his face obscured by a wide brimmed hat. He jumped into the gondola, grabbed the long oar and rowed stealthily and silently into the mist. Through dark and narrow canals the man deftly steered the gondola. When he came to a small square next to a church and a huge palazzo, he stopped the gondola and tied it to a post next to some steps. He climbed up and walked swiftly across the square. Then he stopped outside the huge red door of the palazzo. Knocking softly, he called out as loudly as he dared, “Lucia, are you there?” His voice was muffled by the surrounding mist but the door opened silently and a beautiful woman stood there with a glimmering lamp in her hand. Here eyes were red and swollen and it was clear she had been crying. He was about to step inside the door into the courtyard beyond but the woman named Lucia barred his way.

“Paolo….I cannot let you in. This has to stop. I think that my husband is starting to suspect. He said that I am looking pale and that the dank air of Venice is not good for me. I have to leave for Verona to stay with his aunt until the summer. It is better if you leave. I am suspecting that he has bribed one of the servants to spy on me. I believe that your night visits to my room are no longer a sweet secret known just to us two. Paolo I long for you every minute. I cannot live with Stefano anymore…..I don’t know what to do. I am trapped…..” she sobbed. Paolo hugged her to him and she continued, in between racking sobs, “Today he caught one of the servant girls with a groom and he had her whipped cruelly. I think it was meant to be a warning to me. I am frightened Paolo”. She clung to him.