James Carnarvon

I’m not sure Marco has acted dishonestly. He confronts Cosmo with his suspicions and, finding himself conflicted, admits to Giorgio that he’s spoken to the police. That would surely only be classed as “snitching” if you feel Elisabetta should be protected from the law? As regards his nascent relationship with Giorgio, it’s dawned rather quickly. He’s proceeded with it as fast as Giorgio’s signals and his own awareness of it allow, and even takes the time to double check that he’s not just in this position because he’s cast himself as the rescuer. As to love, for once I wanted to step away from applying the rather adult concepts of ‘romance’ or ‘true love’ to young teens and explore something more honest based on a combination of sympathy and simple attraction.

It was important for me to show that, now the love triangle is behind them, things between Marco, Giaco and Dani have settled down to the point where Marco can call on them for support like this. Originally there was meant to be more distance between them still due to Dani and Giaco being so wrapped up in each other, but that old chestnut reared its head again - it didn’t feel true to the characters! (to the point I had developed them by the end of the last story)

So… is there any clever fan who can point me to uncle Maurizio’s two previous speaking appearances in the Ravello series? 😉

At the same time as Cosmo was climbing the winding steps for his morning at the Villa Cimbrone with Luca and Emilia, Marco was coaxing his new mountain bike up the last of the roads to the highest point of Scala. It had been a long, demanding climb in the morning sun, and Marco had taken it gently, pausing for regular rest breaks. The last thing he wanted was to arrive at Giorgio’s place all hot and sweaty. Get a grip, Marco. He’s a full year younger than you! Are you REALLY worried about l

Yep… testing times indeed…

Marco has always had fire in his belly. Once, it was more inwardly focused, but these days when he feels something isn’t right, he rails against it.

Again you’re showing a keen understanding of what’s going on. Elisabetta has reappeared at a very bad moment for Cosmo!

Oh, please... at the first sign of real danger, Vincenzo would soil himself and run back to his mummy!

I do love how you can bring everything back to Kate Bush. I clearly need to familiarise myself with more of her work! While I'm here, for anyone leaving comments, I'll note that I'm going to be travelling for the next few days. I'll do my best to keep up and engage with you all, but it might be a bit more sporadic. Don't worry, all the remaining chapters are already loaded into the system and set to auto-publish every 48 hours!

Thanks. It's great to have you back and commenting with such insight. I don't think Marco has any particular doubts about Gianni and Angelo, but what he does have is a general malaise arising from his history. Abandonment issues, that outsider feeling you described, and a sense of being unlovable and unattractive... not the king of self-esteem is our Marco! I hope you enjoy the rest of the story.

That's a tremendous summary!

You're right about Luca. Much has been made of the exaggeratedly unpleasant way he's been talking to/about Cosmo, but to me that proves that Cosmo has got under his skin and their relationship does matter to him in some way. It's just a question of how much and in what way, exactly. Next to Betta's many other failings, a touch of hypocrisy can hardly be a surprise! Hmm, yes, Cosmo is at a fork in the road. He may need a push in one direction or another. I guess decision time is nearing for them both.

I know you've been reading the comments as you go along, so I guess there's no point in me telling you how this was a quick, speed-written bit of fun to tide me over between finishing Lanterns in the Dark and going on my own actual 'bella vacanza' to Ravello! I was inspired to write a comedy after reading one of Comicality's stories. It was a drama, but an extremely funny one full of heightened hormonal antics. Overall it left me in a very silly mood, more like a teenager than I'd felt for years, and this was my outlet for it! Of course, it was also part of a longer-term plan...

Cosmo indicates that he doesn't intend to go back to Betta and asks Luca to give him a chance, effectively asking Luca to help him be a better person. This challenges Luca's prejudices about his brother and he rises to the occasion. That was the intention, anyway. Sorry if it didn't come across.

Cosmo was lonely. But, to be honest, he probably deserved to be. He had proven himself to be every bit the disappointment his younger brother had expected him to be… and, after the way he’d shamed himself in the woods the other day, he could probably add ‘borderline sexual predator’ to the list of black marks against his name. Great work, Cosmo. Way to turn a fucking corner. And now…? Marco and Giorgio were gone, Luca was off living his best summer life with Emilia, and Elisa

Rapid progress made this weekend! Thank you for all your comments and very generous reviews.

Oops, I committed a continuity error! I had Cosmo talking like the head of the crime family was his father, when the previous story established that it was, in fact, his uncle. Hasty edits made... 😫

I loved writing the Isabella scene. In fact, it's amazing how quickly and easily the Marco chapters unfurled on the page compared to the more difficult Cosmo chapters. This story was an interesting writing experience, for sure. Did the attacker mean to kill Pietro? I left it ambiguous. Certainly that last blow had the potential to kill, if Marco hadn't provided a distraction when he did. Marco's only just starting to realise that there's a potential plunge for him to take. Early days yet! Thank you once again! Yeah, it was a fun chapter to produce, albeit with a nasty sting in the tail. It's definitely Marco's turn to shine. He's always had a negative view of himself, but he was almost there with Daniele, and now there's no missing the effect he's had on Giorgio. I love swifts. They're in severe decline; if they can't be saved, I will very much miss them when they're gone.

Welcome back to Ravello! It's fun to have a pool of regulars to draw on, even if this story - being firmly focused on Dani's adventures - doesn't really have time to offer them a lot of development.

Marco strove determinedly along the mountain path, leading Giorgio deeper into the upper reaches of the valley, until the heap of tumbledown sheds was long out of sight. Hot anger still coursed through his veins at the way Cosmo had behaved towards them both. What the hell was he thinking? I can’t believe I was actually FRIENDS with that guy. Judging by the stumbling, ungainly nature of Giorgio’s footsteps behind him and the harsh, uneven gasps of his breathing, the younger boy was try

Yeah I thought it was important to establish that Cosmo had no intention of forcing himself on Giorgio. He may be depressed and desperate, but he's not a rapist. In some countries, what he was trying to do would be seen as statutory rape, but it so happens that the age of consent in Italy is 14. This chapter establishes that Elisabetta has experienced some degree of suicide ideation. The degree to which Cosmo would appear to share that perspective was something that I continually revisited and revised during the course of writing this story. Maybe the final moments of this chapter will be a turning point for Cosmo...? We shall see. It's up to Giorgio and Marco, I guess, whether they wish to reveal this incident to anyone. Thanks to Marco's intervention, nothing actually happened, and the boys could choose to take it as a momentary aberration and handle it between them on that basis. If Cosmo had tried to force the issue or continued to subject Giorgio to unwanted attention after this, that I think would cross a definite line and they would have to tell an adult. I don't think Cosmo's actions were entirely innocent and, legalities aside, I don't think a 17-year-old should be trying to seduce a 14-year-old like this. The balance of power isn't right.

Hi all. I sort of hate this grubby chapter, so it was good to get it out of the way. It was necessary for the story, but maybe writing about these depths of despair isn't for me! I'm glad you felt it was well done. I was persistently unhappy with this chapter through multiple edits, but I did make a couple of breakthroughs towards the end. Things I struggled with included making Elisabetta's reactions believable and capturing how Cosmo really felt about his stupid plan to seduce Giorgio. I like the phrase "pity party" to describe this chapter, because we're in pure self-involved, self-pity territory with Cosmo during his extended outburst here. Such a display is never pretty, even if it is partly justified, and his internal rationalisations for what he proposes to do with Giorgio later are (intentionally) equally pathetic. Hmm. Giorgio crushed on Cosmo for years; I don't think he would be able to forget all that completely after one nice evening out with some new friends. However, I like to think the fact that he brought Marco along shows that he's already in the process of changing or at least broadening his priorities. The way I imagined the scene in my head, Marco was already with Giorgio when Cosmo messaged him. They talked about it there and then, and Marco came along to look out for him.

Cosmo was stoned. He knew this. He was also fucking miserable. It’s your own stupid fault, said a quiet voice at the back of his addled brain, but it wasn’t loud enough to drown out the simmering resentment he was starting to feel for everyone else: for the family who judged him; the young man who had spurned him; the friends who had lectured him; and the boss who had fired him. Surely, they were the ones who had let him down? Nobody gives me a chance. Nobody but Betta. Grate

I'm ashamed to say I don't know that song, although I am familiar with the Green Day song by the same name. I don't think that's quite what you had in mind. 😆 I also agree with this take on Cosmo, but he may have to fall a bit lower before he comes to that realisation - if he comes to it at all! I assume @drpaladin derived this nifty tag from the line where Luca calls her the "bête noire", which literally means "black beast" and is an expression used here in the UK to refer to one's personal nemesis. When I was casting around for names for the character, I picked 'Elisabetta' specifically because it could be adapted in this way. Also the short form 'Betta' reminded me of Detta Walker, a memorably aggressive and unpleasant character in Stephen King's Dark Tower series. As I mentioned on an earlier chapter, having conceived a character so horrible, my challenge as a writer was to make her vaguely believable as a human being. I hope I've done enough in that regard; her surprisingly gentle treatment of Cosmo when she admits she knows he's gay was one way I tried to round her out a little. We find out a few more scraps of information about her background later on. Marco can roar in anger when he needs to - he's a boy of strong convictions. As to roaring in pride...? Maybe, in time. You're right that this story is not a romance. As to the outcome of the story in a wider sense? I couldn't possibly comment. Nervously you may reply in song titles and offer me Some Speculation but It Must Be Obvious that it would cause Pandemonium to give the game away prematurely. 😉 Hmm, well you did mention the redoubtable Ms. Bush in a story comment, but since that was mainly in relation to Chris' stated intention to go back and read the Ravello series from the beginning, I'll let you off. 🤣 I do like a San Pellegrino Limonata or Aranciata Rossa, and there's nothing better than a large bottle of San Pellegrino sparkling water after trekking up and down Ravello's many steps on a hot day. Pellegrino, of course, means pilgrim, which is ironic in relation to Elisabetta's personality, but also apt in relation to the Pellegrino siblings' rootless and homeless nature following the arrest of their parents. Giaco and Dani ended up being in this story more than I'd originally intended, since the focus was meant to be on how Marco survives the summer on his own, but the fact is that they remain friends and have learned not to abandon each other completely like they did before, so they ended up maintaining a greater presence. After some thought, I decided that they would always be "Giaco and Dani" from Marco's point of view and never "Dani and Giaco", since Marco and Giaco have the much longer history. It's good to think about these details...

I do enjoy a bit of Pink Floyd. While I'm not sure the video quite describes the relationship in this story, I do like your choice of song! The Summer of the Firefly has a soundtrack (including Pink Floyd's High Hopes) and so does the disco scene from The Summer of the Selfless. I've sometimes wondered what the signature tunes for some of my other stories could be, and I think the melancholy and regretful mood of this particular one is a good fit. It's the first time I've compared Ravello to a fish bowl, but I think it probably suits Cosmo's perspective on the place quite well. Let's hope you're right about Marco!