The Astico is a recurring landscape along which the novel’s private grief and unsettled relationships take visible form. Its green water, steady murmur, and rain-swollen current accompany Massimo Alberti’s departure and Donna Fedele’s journey with him toward Marcello Trento’s grave; later, its broad, agitated flow opens a scene in which the two approach a difficult conversation about Lelia Camin.

The river in Massimo’s departure

After Donna Fedele dismisses him, Massimo takes the road into the Astico Valley, choosing the direction that carries him farther from Lelia’s former home Montanina. He passes Barcarola, leaves the Posina Bridge to his right, descends through the meadows to the Astico’s bank, and remains there watching the fast green water pass. He listens to its even murmur and feels his heart beating. Under a gray sky, the mountains on either side of the river seem like silent visitors at a funeral. The scene makes the river more than a landmark: its steady movement contrasts with Massimo’s unsettled feelings, while the landscape gives his departure the gravity of mourning.

A route to Marcello Trento’s grave

On July 4, Donna Fedele meets Massimo at Seghe railway station. They have two hours before his return journey to Milan, and she invites him to go with her to San Giorgio Cemetery. The Astico, swollen and loud after heavy rain during the night, accompanies their journey. As they travel beside it, Donna Fedele recounts signs and details surrounding Marcello’s death, including the storm on his last evening, the flowers carried outdoors, the money left on the writing desk, the lamp found burning, and the appearance of the body. Her quiet account unfolds against the river’s forceful sound and the movement of the fields and poplars in the wind.

At the cemetery, Donna Fedele and Massimo kneel on the grass and place a rose each on the freshly turned earth. Children’s voices interrupt their silence; Donna Fedele orders the children to kneel and be quiet, and they obey. The Astico is part of the passage between station and grave, but the journey also establishes the emotional ground on which Donna Fedele hopes to speak with Massimo. He senses that her feeling for the dead man is stronger than his own, and the thought draws his attention toward her as well as toward Marcello.

An open valley and a difficult conversation

After leaving the carriage at Seghe, Donna Fedele and Massimo take a shaded path toward the Astico. Their talk about Lelia is interrupted when a group of acquaintances comes up from the bridge. Beyond the houses, the river appears in broad, agitated currents, with a wide expanse of green and open sky between the valley’s descending sides. Donna Fedele remarks that Marcello had liked this place. The landscape thus brings his memory into their present conversation even as she prepares to ask Massimo for advice—not only about Lelia, but about himself. In these episodes, the river’s different appearances—quick and green, rain-swollen and sonorous, then broad and restless—give the surrounding scenes a changing physical register for separation, bereavement, and intimacy.