Beautiful Ruins

Pasquale wakes up the morning after the action in Portovenere and reflects on the events of the previous day. He looks at the continuity pictures Dee left behind and wonders whether Richard Burton will take her to Switzerland after all. Pasquale envisions himself proposing to Dee and offering to raise her child, but he remembers that he does not even care for his own son.

Pasquale enters the dining room and runs into Valeria. Valeria informs him that Antonia begged her to kill her since she felt like a burden that kept Pasquale from being free to marry Dee. Valeria confesses that she killed her sister by feeding her a loaf of bread infused with lye. Pasquale tells Valeria that she did so in vain since he cannot marry Dee, and Valeria’s sense of guilt intensifies. Pasquale pities his aunt and comforts her as she cries. Later that day, he and Tommaso take Antonia’s body to nearby La Spezia and arrange for her requiem. Upon returning to The Hotel Adequate View, Pasquale drinks himself to sleep and awakens to find Alvis in his room.

The narrative flashes back to Alvis returning to Madison after WWII.