Capo Massaria headland is both a remote coastal setting and the site of the private house where Silvio Luparello conducted his discreet affairs. Mrs. Luparello directs Inspector Montalbano toward the property, and his visit turns the house’s carefully ordered seclusion into a source of evidence: beneath the bed, he finds a tie whose color appears to match Luparello’s suit at the time of his death.

Location and access

Mrs. Luparello tells Montalbano that her husband had built a small house at the tip of Capo Massaria, though not in his own name, and that he used it for his affairs. She says she learned of it through a sympathetic friend. Her account establishes the house as a deliberately private place, connected to Luparello’s personal life but concealed from his wife until information reached her indirectly.

To help Montalbano reach the property, Mrs. Luparello searches a desk drawer and gives him a metal ring holding two keys. She also has a large yellow envelope and a magnifying glass with her, though the account does not establish that either item is used during his visit. The keys make the house physically accessible to the investigation, while the circumstances in which they are handed over show the widow providing practical assistance after disclosing its existence.

The approach is not immediately apparent from the road. About a hundred yards beyond the San Filippo bend, Montalbano cannot see the little house from his car. He backs up slowly until he is opposite the cape, where he notices a path branching off through low, dense trees. The path leads to a small road blocked by a gate. This is the only opening in a long dry-stone wall enclosing the part of the headland that projects over the sea. The wall and single gate make the property feel set apart from its surroundings, while the obscured turning explains why the house is not readily visible from the road.

The house and its interior

Inside, Montalbano enters a spacious room facing the sea, with a glass wall that makes the room seem suspended above the water. The furnishings are arranged in good order: a dining table with four chairs stands in one corner, while a sofa and two armchairs face the window. A nineteenth-century sideboard holds glasses, dishes, wine, and liqueur. The interior gives the secluded house the character of a fully equipped retreat rather than an abandoned or makeshift hiding place.

A television and VCR stand in the main room, with a row of videocassettes on a low table beside them; some are pornographic and others are not. The first of three doors opens onto an immaculate kitchenette, stocked with food, although the refrigerator contains little beyond champagne and vodka. The spacious bathroom is clean and orderly, with disinfectant and personal grooming items, including an electric razor, deodorants, and eau de cologne. Taken together, these details establish a place prepared for private visits and maintained for use. The house’s neatness contrasts with the secrecy of its purpose, but nothing in the description identifies who arranged each object or how often the property was used.

The tie and the investigation

After finding nothing else of interest, Montalbano checks beneath the furniture. This routine search brings the house’s intimate history into direct contact with the inquiry: a tie has been wrapped around one of the rear legs of the bed. He recalls that Luparello was found with his shirt collar unbuttoned and takes photographs of the body from his pocket to compare the circumstances. The tie’s color, he decides, would have gone well with the suit Luparello wore at the time of his death.

The discovery does not, by itself, establish who left the tie or exactly what happened in the house. Its importance lies in the connection Montalbano makes between an otherwise ordinary article of clothing, the bed, and the condition in which Luparello’s body was found. Capo Massaria headland therefore serves not only as the concealed setting of Luparello’s affairs but also as a physical location where the inspector can test the widow’s account against an object and the photographs. The house’s closed boundary, orderly rooms, and overlooked clue give the investigation a concrete point of contact with the private life behind the death.