Diavola

Benny is Anna’s twin brother; he lives in Philadelphia and works as a schoolteacher. He is in a relationship with Christopher, who accompanies him on the vacation to Italy. Benny is a complex and ambiguous character who often tries to keep the peace within the family unit. On the one hand, he and Anna have a close bond, and he often shares her frustrations with their parents and Nicole. For example, early in the vacation, Benny and Anna flee the villa to drink at a local winery; she also chooses to tell him about her termination of pregnancy. Benny sometimes shows loyalty and protectiveness toward Anna, as when he demands that Christopher apologize to her. Benny is also willing to explicitly acknowledge the presence of the ghost in the villa, which is something no one other than Anna does. This honesty reflects Benny’s similar ability to perceive the toxic and dysfunctional dynamics within the family, which most other characters insist on denying.

However, Benny ultimately refuses to side with Anna, suggesting that his willingness to flout the broader family’s wishes has limits. After Christopher’s mysterious disappearance, the supposed “farewell note” is written in Benny’s handwriting; he thus participates in erasing the reality of Christopher’s murder, echoing the family’s broader tendency toward denial. Benny also repeatedly tells Anna that he sees her as the source of tensions within the family, even stating, “I think it’s you […] I think you are the ghost” (267). Most pointedly, Benny betrays Anna by telling Nicole (and possibly also their parents) about Anna’s termination of pregnancy. He tries to defend this action by claiming, “[I]t was too big for me to hold on to myself” (131), but this merely characterizes Benny as selfish. His main priority is securing his relationships with Nicole and his parents; he is not as independent as Anna. Benny suffers the consequences of this when he loses contact with Anna and thus no longer receives the emotional support that he has become dependent on.

Christopher is Benny’s boyfriend and joins the Pace family for their Italian vacation. He works in finance and is extremely preoccupied with status, social position, and money, making him an important vehicle for the novel’s depiction of The Empty Performance of Social Elitism. Christopher is competitive and always wants to prove that he is more successful than other people; he particularly wants to assert his dominance over Anna because he perceives her as a threat to his relationship with Benny. Christopher’s arrogance extends into national chauvinism, as evidenced by the fact that he is not open to experiencing or learning about Italian culture. He compares local wine unfavorably to wine from California and becomes overwhelmed trying to drive into Siena. He exemplifies the stereotype of an entitled American tourist.

Christopher is a static character who does not evolve or change over the course of the novel. Nevertheless, he does catalyze important narrative action by vanishing mysteriously after a fight with Benny; Anna’s hazy memories and visions imply that the Pace family murdered Christopher during a kind of Bacchanalian revelry orchestrated by Caterina. During Anna’s final confrontation with Caterina’s ghost, Christopher appears among the many others who died at the villa, confirming that he did die a violent death at the hands of the Pace family. His death represents another example of buried trauma that the family is unwilling to discuss or openly acknowledge.

Nicole is Anna and Benny’s sister; she is married and has two young daughters. Nicole is very controlling and organized, planning a detailed itinerary for the entire vacation. The novel implies that this need for order is rooted in anxiety and insecurity: Nicole does not seem very satisfied in her marriage, as she and her husband frequently bicker, and while she is a protective mother, she doesn’t derive much outward joy from her children. These undercurrents of dissatisfaction lead Nicole to be competitive with and resentful of Anna, who is more free-spirited and open about her sexuality. Because Nicole is quite repressed and fixated on conforming to social norms, she resents this freedom.

Nicole’s need for structure—for instance, her inability to see that her itinerary might feel oppressive to others—also results in self-centered behavior. Nicole makes everything about herself. For example, when she learns that Anna terminated a pregnancy, Nicole chastises her sister for not confiding in her. Nicole is a round but static character who does not display any growth or development. At the end of the novel, it is revealed that Nicole and Justin divorced and that she lost contact with at least one of her daughters. This dissolution of Nicole’s family reflects how her futile need to control everyone around her ends up driving people away.

Caterina is the ghost who haunts the villa. She functions as the antagonist because she threatens the Pace family during their vacation. While Caterina rarely speaks directly in the text, Anna has dreams and visions that allow her to see events from Caterina’s past and learn about her life. She lived during the 16th century and was a wealthy Florentine noblewoman. Caterina had an affair with the man who owned Villa Taccola, and when he rejected her, she went on to seduce his son, use dark magic to curse the vineyards he owned, and eventually kill him and his family.

As a ghost, Caterina is equally malevolent and destructive. She torments and sometimes kills individuals who enter the villa. She chooses Anna as a victim because she perceives Anna as alienated and outcast from her family; Caterina plans to take over Anna’s life and eventually fuse with her in some way. Caterina represents the evil and self-destructive nature of pure selfishness. However, she also reveals how societal repression leads women’s desires to become corrupted and dangerous. At the end of the novel, Caterina is not eliminated entirely, but she is contained and controlled (Anna immures her in the tower room).