The Family House and Its Objects

This subplot follows Marco’s effort to preserve, catalogue, and finally reclaim the material traces of his family and especially his mother’s photographic life.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

A House That Holds Memory

A House That Holds Memory An unfinished inheritance Marco prepares to sell the family home in Piazza Savonarola, but he struggles to decide what should happen to its furnishings. The objects embody a family life that no longer exists. A brother asked to choose He sends Giacomo an inventory and asks for a response, emphasizing that the contents matter beyond their sale price. Giacomo’s silence leaves Marco carrying the work of preserving memory alone. The house becomes both a practical burden and a material substitute for a broken family.

The Nearly Complete Collection

The Nearly Complete Collection A collector’s record Marco examines Probo’s almost complete run of Urania science-fiction novels. Missing issues reveal family events: a friend’s death, Irene’s childhood accident, the Florence flood, and Giacomo’s birth. A letter to the brother The collection becomes a way for Marco to address Giacomo about their father and the history they shared. He asks his brother to keep the books rather than discard them. The volumes turn private family memory into a sequence of tangible absences.

Models Given Away

Models Given Away Finding new keepers Marco donates or distributes Probo’s architectural and railway models to people and institutions able to appreciate them. The model railway builders receive works that Probo had spent decades making. A quiet legacy The recipients show respect for Probo, even though he had kept his passion private and built few close friendships around it. Their admiration gives Marco a glimpse of a life his father did not share openly. The models preserve Probo’s skill by moving out of the family house and into a community.

A Mother’s Photographic World

A Mother’s Photographic World A difficult archive Marco has avoided his mother’s photographs because they expose a social and artistic world from which Probo seems largely absent. He feels jealousy and pain as he examines the images. A donation arranged Through Luigi Dami Tamburini, Marco finds a foundation willing to receive the archive. He declines payment, believing the donation preserves his mother’s work and makes the house sale possible. His practical solution also lets him avoid confronting how deeply he has wanted to keep her traces.

The Photographs Reclaimed

The Photographs Reclaimed A victory refused Marco wins 840,000 euros in a high-stakes poker game but rejects the money. He recognizes that the imagined purchases and escape plans the winnings produced do not reflect the life he values. A more meaningful exchange Instead of keeping the cash, he asks for his mother’s photographic archive back. The choice turns a gambling victory into a recovery of something he had given away too easily. The archive becomes, for Marco, a clearer measure of value than money or escape.

After the family disperses, from 2008 onward

October 2008, while Marco studies Probo’s books

December 2008, as Marco clears Probo’s workshop

2009, during the search for a home for Letizia’s photographs

2016, after Marco’s poker win