Turin

Turin is a repeatedly proposed destination in the later plot: Donna Fedele intends to seek treatment there, and at different points hopes to bring Lelia with her and arrange for the young woman to live with relatives. The city is not presented in these passages as a setting the characters reach. Instead, its importance lies in the journey toward it, which links Fedele’s declining health to Lelia’s uncertain freedom and need for protection.

A refuge considered for Lelia

After Lelia inherits Marcello Trento’s estate, Donna Fedele considers asking Lelia’s father, Girolamo da Camin, to let his daughter accompany her to Piemonte for three or four weeks. The proposal would give Lelia some distance from life with her father, whose arrival and presence have become a source of dread. Lelia agrees to the possibility and expects that her father will permit it, though her compliance surprises Donna Fedele.

Donna Fedele’s plan is also practical: she has affairs to attend to in Piemonte and hopes to travel with Lelia. When Girolamo da Camin visits, he approves the Turin journey and calls it an honour; he also brings Lelia a packet of banknotes. His assent makes the trip seem feasible, but it does not resolve the larger tension between Lelia’s legal dependence and her strong wish to live apart from him.

Medical destination and disputed advice

Turin is also where Donna Fedele intends to seek medical care. She plans to consult Carle and, if he allows it, spend some time in the mountains, either near Rosa or in Val d’Aosta. As her condition worsens, a doctor from Arsiero examines her and orders absolute rest so she can undertake the journey. He recommends Padova instead, because it is closer, but Donna Fedele refuses to consider anywhere but Turin and the Ospedale Mauriziano. The proposed operation can be postponed for a few days, not indefinitely.

Her insistence on Turin persists despite the physical cost of travel. After a night in which she believes she may die, she orders a carriage to take her from the Rose Villa to Montanina, although her cousin Eufemia protests that the excursion is reckless. The doctor’s instructions make clear that rest is meant to preserve her ability to travel; Donna Fedele’s decision to go out anyway shows how her concern for Lelia and their strained relationship compete with her own bodily limits.

The route from Valsolda

Later, while in Valsolda with Lelia and Massimo Alberti, Donna Fedele again makes Turin the next destination. She judges that Lelia cannot remain there and that returning to Velo d’Astico would be intolerable to the girl. Lelia hopes Donna Fedele will stay in Valsolda and recover before accompanying her to Turin, but Donna Fedele warns that Lelia would otherwise be without support in the city.

They settle on a more specific arrangement, conditional on medical approval: Donna Fedele will rest for the day, see a doctor the following morning, and, if cleared to travel, leave with Lelia for Turin. Her cousin in Santhià is to be telegraphed to meet Lelia at the station and receive her; Eufemia will continue on with them. Letters arriving for Lelia at San Mamette are to be forwarded to Santhià. Donna Fedele yields on the need for paternal permission, judging the relatives’ home safe and Lelia’s aversion to returning to Velo decisive. The plan makes Turin part of a wider protective itinerary, but the cited account records the arrangements rather than their completion.