Broken Hearts On Boulevard Unirii novel Chapter 2

Fabrizio befriended Elia Wilson through his friend Claudio who studied with Elia in the university. It was through this friendship that Elia met Fabrizio's sixteen-year-old sister Matilda; they became good friends and began dating each other.

Fabrizio loved music, and when he was ten his father bought him a violin. Whenever he practiced during the siesta, neighbors started banging on the walls of the apartment from all directions.

When he had finished high school he entered the conservatory to study music. Two years later, he dropped out and travelled to India to spend a year touring the country. The contact with home and friends was one-sided; from wherever he was, he sent a postcard on which he wrote two words, sono vivo.[Italian: I am alive]

Upon his return from India, he landed a job in the local branch of the post office. It was there that he met Giulia, a plump redhead with very pronounced freckles on her face, and shortly thereafter they got married. After that, Fabrizio began working at the family-owned restaurant together with her father. Fabrizio and Giulia had a daughter together, who remained single. After Giulia's parents retired, Fabrizio managed the restaurant and renamed it Trattoria Mumbai, even though the food remained authentically Tuscan.

Angelo Manfredi and Sebastian Ceccarelli, who lived in the same district as Fabrizio, would often meet in the Parco della Fortezza Medicea,[Name of the park] called Il Prato[ The meadow ] by all, to smoke cigarettes and play soccer with other neighborhood boys. They would then go to the dance club where they danced with the local girls who came Sunday evenings with their faces all made up, wearing miniskirts, nylon stockings and platform-heeled shoes.

Their friendship continued even after Sebastian and his parents immigrated to Australia. They remained in contact throughout all the years through letters and phone calls. Every few years Sebastian would come to visit with a new wife. We stopped counting after his fourth divorce. Between all his wives, he had a son and a daughter with whom he had no contact.

When Sebastian's father died, his mother returned to Italy and moved in with her sister in Turin in northern Italy. Sebastian remained behind in Australia and opened a bakery that supplied bread and pastries to the local stores in Brisbane. According to him, he made "millions" and was living in a luxurious villa on the beach. After a number of years he changed his name to Sabi Checker, to sound Australian.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Angelo saw lucrative business opportunities in Romania and decided to try his luck. Leaving his wife Renata and young son Daniele behind in Arezzo, he travelled to Romania. He settled in Bucharest where he opened a pizza shop in the old center and named it Piccola Napoli.

Angelo's business grew and expanded. That is when it all happened. He employed a beautiful young Romanian girl, Mihaela, as a waitress. She would constantly "give him the eye" and it was quite clear that very soon he would fall like a ripe fruit between her protruding breasts and forget that he had a wife and son waiting for him in Arezzo.

Angelo would often come to Arezzo to see his son; however, his wife left him after she learned of his exploits. When his son reached the age of ten, his ex-wife married a carabiniere.[Policeman]

As for me, my name is Giorgio Sacerdote. My family is originally from Venice, however, my grandfather moved to Padua, where he met my grandmother, a young Catholic girl. My grandfather, who was Jewish, insisted on a Jewish wedding, so the local rabbi converted my grandmother. Shortly after their wedding, they moved to Florence where my father was born, and eventually they settled in Arezzo. My grandfather had a small workshop, where he crafted jewelry in gold and silver, and eventually my father joined him in the business.

My mother was the same age as my father, although my grandfather always insisted that she was older than he was. She never revealed her real age to anyone, and my father absolutely refused to disclose her age.

We lived outside the old city walls, in a relatively new three-story building, in a spacious apartment. I attended public school in the city of Arezzo.

I met most of my friends at the dance club. I would arrive there on my bicycle, and every evening when it was time to return home, I would find the tires of my bike flat. All the air had been taken out and I had to walk home, pushing my bike. To this very day, I don't know who the culprit of this odious act was.