Beginning Middle End

The mother and her daughter leave the tourist’s apartment in Catania and sit at a café terrace where the air is hazy with smoke and ash. Feeling a sense of failure and being caught in the middle of her life, the mother plans to rent a car and drive to the Villa Romana del Casale, and then to Philosophiana, Nanna’s former home.

At the rental agency, the mother rents a red Fiat Panda using the tourist’s license, which the rental agent accepts. As they pack the car, the mother discovers her daughter has a Polaroid camera, which the daughter claims was given to her by a “camera lady under the tunnel” (169).

The mother expresses a deep fear of driving on highways. As they depart the city, she tells her daughter her plan is to drive slowly and avoid highways.

While driving through Sicily’s interior, the daughter programs the car’s GPS to avoid all highways (autostrada), which doubles their travel time to the Villa Casale. The mother explains the concept of tombaroli (tomb raiders) to her daughter, who speculates that Nanna was one such raider herself.

The mother receives a text from Manuela claiming her Proteus mosaic has been stolen and that robbers came to take it from her, apparently having forgotten she gave the mosaic to the mother before the trip.