The Unraveling of Julia

When Julia returns to the villa, Courtney calls. Julia updates her about everything that’s happened. Courtney encourages Julia to sell the villa, since there isn’t any DNA she can collect there. Julia doesn’t want to lose a connection to her biological family; she thinks Rossi is haunting the villa. Courtney thinks Julia is feeling this way because of losing Mike and encourages Julia to talk to her therapist, Susanna. Julia says she will eat and try to get some sleep.

Anna prepares another delicious meal for Julia. Julia asks Anna about the people in town. Anna insults the saleswoman in the shop, Leonora, and says Rossi never slapped the grocer’s daughter. People are jealous of Rossi’s money, Anna claims. Also, Rossi was paranoid that the villagers, as well as her doctors, wanted to kill her. Julia asks Anna if she thinks Julia should sell the villa.

Anna says the villagers put the evil eye on Julia. She pours olive oil in a bowl of water and tells Julia to close her eyes. Anna prays over Julia, and this calms Julia.

As Julia unpacks her clothes, she finds a photograph of a baby stuck in the dresser. There’s nothing on the back of the photo, but it looks old. Julia shows it to Anna and asks if Rossi had children. Anna repeats that Rossi said she never had children. Julia says the baby could be one of her birth parents, and Anna admits that the photo looks old. Anna makes another dinner that Julia enjoys, praising Tuscan cuisine.

After dinner, in Rossi’s bedroom, Julia takes a picture of the baby picture with her laptop. Then, she compares it with the previous photos she digitally archived. She takes a selfie and compares it with the photos; there is a resemblance, especially in the eyes. When she falls asleep, she has a nightmare.

In her nightmare, Julia sees the baby’s face emerge from the dark room. It is pulled in various directions, then transforms into the face of Caterina. She gives Julia a pearl necklace. While her blue eyes blaze, Caterina’s teeth turn into fangs and she strangles Julia with the necklace. Julia gasps for air and runs out to the vineyard. There, vines pull her down to the ground and attempt to pull her under the ground.

Anna and Piero wake up Julia. She is in the vineyard, covered in scratches, but not being pulled underground. She questions what is real.

The next day, Piero is wary of Julia as he drives her to the family investigator in Florence. Julia thinks back on all her traumatic nightmares and realizes she’s never sleepwalked before.

The address from Lombardi is a café. A man there introduces himself as Gustavo Caputo. He flirts with Julia and drinks wine. He asks what she plans to do with her inheritance. She asks him about his credentials. He says he usually handles paternity cases and says “Rosso” instead of “Rossi.” When Caputo admits he hasn’t worked for Lombardi for 10 years, Julia ends the meeting.

As she walks away from the cafe, she calls Piero, but he doesn’t answer. She calls Lombardi and tries to tell him about the disastrous meeting. However, reception is bad, and Lombardi asks her to call back later. Julia sees a man in a black ballcap following her, so she pretends to continue the call after Lombardi hangs up. The man she calls “Ballcap” continues to follow her. Julia goes into the Uffizi, hoping to lose her tail.

Julia feels anxious in the crowd around and in the Uffizi. Ballcap is still following her. Julia tries calling and texting Piero again. She loses Ballcap briefly and sees a painting of Caterina Sforza’s father. Ballcap reappears as Julia enters the Botticelli Room. She can’t find a security guard, so she throws money in the air, exclaiming that it’s free for everyone. The crowd forms a roadblock between Julia and Ballcap. She runs outside and into a man on a parked vespa.

The man introduces himself as Gianluca Moretti, a librarian. Julia tells him that she’s being followed and he offers to give her a ride. She is reluctant, but agrees when she notices Ballcap coming out of the Uffizi.

Gianluca takes Julia to the Biblioteca Marucelliana, where he works as the director. He gives her a tour, and says the rare book room is his favorite place. They have lunch in the library’s enclosed garden. Piero finally texts her back, and she tells him her location. Gianluca notices Julia’s wedding rings, and she explains that she’s a widow. He offers his condolences. They talk about the villa being a mysterious inheritance and Caterina possibly being involved.

Gianluca uses the internet on his phone to help her find a new family investigator. He also checks out a book about Caterina from the library for her. Caterina lived with Girolamo Riario in Forli, and Gianluca offers to take Julia on a tour there the next day. She agrees, as long as the tour isn’t on the vespa.

After Piero picks her up, Julia calls the new family investigator, but it goes to voicemail, and she leaves a message. She falls asleep in the car.

Julia wakes up in the car, parked in the driveway, after it gets dark. Anna makes gnocchi for dinner. After she eats, Julia researches Caterina on her laptop. She is interrupted by a notification for a dinner reservation for the following night that she made to celebrate her wedding anniversary. As she tries to cancel the reservation, the screen goes black, then shows her screensaver, which is a picture of her and Mike. The screen goes black again, then slams itself shut. The lights in the room go out.

Julia’s laptop levitates, hits the wall, falls to the floor, and displays a blue light. The light expands and she is inside the zodiac fresco. She is attacked by various astrological beings, like Leo the Lion and Cancer the Crab, then feels like she is in the darkness of space. There, she sees Mike’s blue eyes.

Julia runs to Anna’s carriage house, hugs Anna, and begs for her help. They come to the main house, Piero carrying a gun. Nothing is out of place, including the laptop. Julia feels like she is losing her sanity and wants the visions to stop.

Anna offers Julia the couch in the carriage house for the night. Julia accepts, but calls Courtney first. When Julia tells Courtney about her vision, Courtney says she should sell the villa and leave. Julia doesn’t want to leave because she feels connected to Caterina’s presence. Courtney begs Julia to talk to her therapist about her visions; Courtney thinks they are from PTSD. They argue about astrology. Courtney again insists that Julia come home, and Julia politely ends the call.

In the morning, Anna makes Julia eggs. Julia and Courtney have never fought, so Julia is upset about their argument. Franco calls her with an offer of €2 million in cash for the villa. They want the land and are going to tear the villa down. Julia refuses this offer, not wanting to destroy the villa. Anna says she is going to church and will pray for Julia.

Gianluca arrives on a motorcycle, which Julia is skeptical of, but he assures her that he’ll take scenic backroads and avoid highways. He brought more books about Caterina for her and compliments the villa, saying she shouldn’t sell it. When she says she might, he pretends to be wounded and dramatically collapses to the ground. This causes her to flashback to Mike being stabbed.

Gianluca points out sights and discusses them in the helmet microphone. There is very little traffic. When they arrive at Caterina’s castle, Rocca di Ravaldino, Julia feels like she is coming home.

As they tour the castle, Julia feels safe. Gianluca did research and now shares information about Caterina. Julia is shocked to learn that Caterina’s husband was stabbed, and explains that’s how Mike died. Gianluca apologizes. Julia asks him to continue his lecture. Caterina designed the castle herself. Julia easily finds a vantage point Gianluca mentions. Along the way, she tells Gianluca about the Sforza coat of arms with vipers and dragons in Rossi’s bedroom.

Gianluca loves the idea that Julia is related to Caterina and that she loved books. He says Caterina had illegitimate children with Giacomo Feo. Julia says she was illegitimate, since she’s adopted. At the vantage point, Julia thinks the view of Forli is beautiful. Caterina once faced an invading army at this castle. When they threatened to kill one of her children, she lifted her skirts and said she could make more. However, this anecdote is recorded by Machiavelli, who wanted revenge for her outwitting him. Caterina’s child wasn’t killed and she won the battle.

Julia also learns that Caterina loved astrology. She was a Sagittarius. Gianluca is a Scorpio. They look at the garden, which Caterina called Paradiso. Julia confesses she’s been having nightmares and visions with Caterina. Gianluca thinks they are part of Julia’s grieving process. He had a smaller loss: a fiancée who decided not to marry him. Reading Shakespeare was part of his grieving process for that relationship. Gianluca asks to hold Julia’s hands and she agrees. He tells her that her sadness and other emotions will wax and wane like the moon. He apologizes for being verbose and releases her hands. She feels comforted.

Gianluca says they should head to Caterina’s other castle in Imola, which is on their way back. A white Fiat seems to have followed them to the castle, but leaves before they get to the motorcycle.

In Imola, they discover that the castle is closed due to flooding. Gianluca says Leonardo da Vinci created the town map; the Sforzas were patrons of his. Gianluca takes Julia to the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo E Dino Ferrari and they watch a practice race. They have lunch at a cafe near the gift shop. Julia is the only woman there. She notices the white Fiat driver. Gianluca assures her that they are common cars, but agrees to leave when Julia wants to lose the man. When they start driving away, the white Fiat follows.

Gianluca pulls onto the service road for a while, so they end up behind the Fiat. Julia memorizes the license plate number and suggests they follow the car. However, Julia gets scared of their speed and says they should take the license plate number to the police.

They go to the police in Savernella because Croce is too small to have its own police station. Marshal Alberto Torti takes Julia’s statement about being followed by the black ballcap guy and white Fiat. He refuses to contact the driver because his actions aren’t illegal; what he’s doing doesn’t qualify as stalking, according to Torti. Julia explains that she’s received a large inheritance, and Gianluca thinks the stalking could turn into a kidnapping. Torti is shocked at the amount of Julia’s inheritance, but still refuses to contact the driver and refuses to give her the driver’s information. Torti advises her to leave the country and ends the interview.

Julia wonders if the family investigator can look up the license plate number. Gianluca calls the office and says an investigator named Poppy Whitcomb will meet with Julia the next day. She can’t run the plate, but might be able to find someone who can. Gianluca offers to stay near Julia and take her to dinner after she meets with Poppy.

That evening, Anna makes polenta and Julia tells her about the Fiat. Anna asks if Julia wants to stay in the carriage house again. Julia politely refuses, saying she’ll try sleeping in the living room. She gets an email from 23andMe that shows she is 98.6% Italian, from the Tuscany region. This news excites Julia and means she is more likely to be related to Rossi and, possibly, Caterina. The email also shows she has no living relatives who have used the service.

Later that evening, Julia reads one of the books Gianluca brought for her in the living room. She keeps a kitchen knife and a flashlight nearby. The flames in the fireplace pop. A blue light comes from a crack in the wall.