Pisa International Airport

Pisa International Airport is where a cheap charter flight to Ljubljana brings Marco Carrera and Duccio Chilleri to the threshold of a journey they do not complete. The airport scene turns Marco’s successful argument against Duccio’s fear of flying into a reversal: once aboard, Duccio insists that the danger is real, and the friends leave the plane before it departs.

Setting and Intended Journey

Marco chooses air travel despite Duccio’s aversion to flying, after spending four evenings trying to reason him out of it. His arguments echo the rational, anti-superstitious case he uses to counter their shared fear of the Unnameable. The pair arrive at Pisa International Airport on a fragrant May afternoon, intending to spend a long weekend at the Ljubljana casino, where they had driven the previous year and won heavily.

The flight promises little convenience: Marco has found a very cheap charter operated by the Yugoslav company Koper Aviopromet, and the route from Pisa to Ljubljana is broken by an unexplained stop. The airport is therefore the starting point of a journey already marked by an odd itinerary and by the tension between Marco’s confidence and Duccio’s reluctance.

The Aborted Departure

As passengers board, Duccio gets up and calls out, asking whether anyone aboard is a famous person or someone whom life has favored. He then turns the accusation on Marco, saying that Marco is already dead and wants to kill him too. Marco guides him back to his seat, tries to calm him, and reassures the increasingly unsettled passengers that nothing is happening.

Duccio remains distressed and asks for the aircraft to be reopened so he can return to the ground. Marco invents a type B epileptic seizure as an explanation and presses the crew to let them off. The crew eventually agrees; their baggage is brought directly from the hold onto the runway, and the two friends return to the terminal as the aircraft begins taxiing. The airport’s poor management at the time is part of the episode’s practical texture: retrieving the baggage happens on the runway rather than through an orderly process.

Aftermath and Narrative Significance

Once ashore, Duccio abruptly calms down and becomes euphoric, as though he has returned from the underworld. Marco, by contrast, is furious. He contains his anger to avoid another public scene and drives them away in gloomy silence. The airport thus marks a sharp emotional split: the failed flight releases Duccio from his panic but leaves Marco with resentment at the humiliating interruption.

The scene also reverses the roles established by their earlier debate. Marco had used rational arguments to overcome Duccio’s fear, but once the plane is boarding, Duccio’s alarm dictates what happens and Marco must improvise a way back to safety. Pisa International Airport is not merely a departure point; it is the place where a proposed escape into a familiar gambling excursion collapses before takeoff, leaving the friends’ contrasting responses to danger exposed.