"I came to this city in 1999." "Everyone was excited because it seemed it would snow that winter, and it hadn't snowed since 1963, an incredible snowfall, apparently, one that people spoke about for ages." "People were divided between those who had seen snow, and those who had never seen it." "But on December 18, while everyone was waiting for the snow, something happened that really drove the city wild." "Antonio Cassano was 17," "Bari were back in Serie A after years, and were playing Inter that night." "Cassano stopped the ball with his heel and found himself alone facing the whole defense." "Instead of waiting for his team-mates, he put his head down and raced to the goal." "People stopped caring about whether it was going to snow or not..." "In the city, everyone was only talking about Cassano's goal." "THE JOURNEY" "That was how Bari welcomed me." "18 December was the most important day in Cassano's life." "The most important day of my life is tomorrow." "Who are you?" "The hangers?" "You leaving them here?" "How much longer will you be?" "A couple of hours." "Realistically?" "I haven't a clue." "What day's the market?" "Tuesday." "Dry cleaners?" "I don't know, but if you ask Mrs Nitti the landlady, she knows everything." "Where are you moving to?" "Romania." "Yeah, I found a job there." "I'm an agronomist, but I've never been able to find work here." "Actually, I was meant to leave last week, but I got scared." "Every time I find an excuse." "One night I got spectacularly drunk, the next morning I was a wreck, and so I put it off." "Then I spent a whole day with Mrs Nitti fixing her boiler." "And then I even decided to take her to the Shrine of Padre Pio..." "I thought she wanted to visit the shrine, but she only went in to light a candle for me..." "She says I need it..." "I swear." "You reminded me of a story about these Russians who wanted to escape from the Soviet Union, and they saved a lot of money for a longtime to buy a plane ticket..." "When they could finally afford it they went to get drunk with their friends... partly to celebrate, partly out of melancholy, maybe because they'd never see each other again..." "But the next morning they didn't wake up in time, missed their plane and had to start all over again." "But you're leaving..." "I'm leaving." " Who are you going with?" " No-one." "What about Berarda?" "Berarda isn't mine, she's Mrs Nitti's." "At one point I asked her if I could take her with me..." "What did she say?" "No, she said I could go and hibernate wherever I wanted, but... her dog likes the southwest wind in its face." "What about you?" "Where did you live?" "On the other side of the city..." "and now it seems really far away." "A while back I was offered a job in a boatyard in Sweden, a little village called Hallstavik..." "I even went there, had an interview, they showed me the little house where I'd live and I said that I needed a week to think about it but then in the end I stayed here." "With the southwest wind in my face as well." "No, I'm sick of flittings, really, I've done too many." "Enough now this is the last one." "How do you know?" "Because I say that every time." "Berarda!" "Berarda!" "Really, I'm very sorry..." "OK." "OK, thank you." "Thank you, I mean it." "See you soon, then." "Goodbye, goodbye." "Well?" "Well... they say they'll find someone else if I don't arrive by tomorrow evening." "Listen, I'll go and look for her." "Maybe she's come back to the park." "Sorry, I'm an idiot." "But you go." "Yeah, go!" " It's not like you have a choice!" " And Berarda?" "I can't go." "I'll look for Berarda." "What do you mean?" "No, I'm not leaving." "It's a sign." "Listen, I lost Berarda and I'll find her!" "So long as you speak with Mrs Nitti!" "No, it's a sign, I'm not going." "Again, I'm sorry..." "Why are you laughing?" "We've only just met and we've already apologized a hundred times!" "Should I leave?" "Yeah." "The last one." " Bye." " Bye." "Am I supposed to leave someone at home...?" "I can't do it..." "Believe me..." "I can't take it any more." "Don't hate me..." "Good morning." "Come in." "I'm sorry, it was me that lost your dog." "I'm used to idiot tenants." "Thank you." "See you tomorrow." "I imagine you've arrived by now." "I wanted to tell you I've looked for Berarda everywhere, but still haven't found her." "I ate at the Chinese, and really it's not bad, and in the same street I found an Indian that's open all night." "I like shops that never close, they make me feel protected." "Oh, and I got fired." "I've got one boat to finish and then I'll be officially unemployed." "Mrs Nitti says that you're the same as her husband." "As she talked about you," "I thought about all the distance you'd to travel." "I hope you're well, I hope it's not too cold." "I hope you don't regret leaving and that you're not afraid any more." "The fear left me as I was putting my boots on this morning." "I'm here to do the only thing I know how to do and I like doing, and I can finally feel useful." " Christian." " Ivo." "I thought of you at home as well." "I wondered where you'd put your stuff, if you put the glass for your toothbrush to the right or left of the sink, and if you lower the shutters at night all the way down like I do." "Nothing nothing..." "I thought they might know since their dog was fucking Berarda, but nothing..." "Now she's only missing a Great Dane, and then she'll have had every dog in the park." "No point looking at me like that, my girl!" "If you hadn't lost my dog, we wouldn't be standing here like two dicks with a plastic chicken!" "Why did you come here?" "Everyone asks me that." "You didn't have a job but you're good and you like this work..." "I'm really worried, Ivo." "I haven't been able to pay the guys for a while now." "How long?" "Two months..." "It's never happened before." "If I don't find some money to get to the harvest I'll have to close." "You could've told me sooner." "I didn't think it would happen." "Every year it's difficult but then everything works out." "But do you not have a cooperative here?" "The regime put people together by force." "After the revolution, everyone wants to be alone." "There's a village near here..." "The farmers grow cabbage and make money." "After a month..." "there are at least 50 tractors but nowhere to store the cabbage..." "and the cabbages froze." "It's hard here, Ivo." "We had invited at least 60 people!" "It's not every day you celebrate 50 years of marriage, and so we decided to celebrate the day he turned 70." "I still remember the menu off by heart one treat after another... and the wine... he'd had it sent specially from the Loire... no... just because it was chic, not that he fucking understood anything about wine!" "Then, all of a sudden, before dessert... he starts a speech, says it'll be short... and that he has to thank the three most important people in his life his mother for the gift of that life... and for the strict upbringing that allowed him to become the man he was." "His father for his professional example and for defending his country during the war." "My heart was going at a thousand beats per minute he lifted his glass... and said that there was one person, though, whom he had to thank more than anyone else." "Everyone turned towards me..." "I was on the point of crying and he said that the third person was Pergolizzi, the engineer..." "And an unbelievable..." "perfect silence descended..." "And everyone looked at each other as if to say," "'Who's this engineer, Pergolizzi?" "'" "And he explains that he's a friend of his father, who lent him the money to pay the rent on his first shop, etc, etc." "Do you understand?" "Pergolizzi, the engineer." "What did you do?" "I got up..." "I slipped this coat on..." "I said goodbye to everyone and I left." "And he..." "He died of a heart attack a week later." "What a moron!" "What about you?" "What?" "I don't know, you've got a face on you..." "No... just to know..." " you lost your husband in a week..." " Boyfriend" "Whatever!" "You spent 10 years with him, call him what like." "But I left him." "So in a week you've lost a husband, a job and a dog which wasn't even yours!" "And Ivo, that idiot... you still hear from him?" "Because I wasn't happy where I was." "I was in a really bad way." "Where the fuck am I?" "If you don't feel like it, forget it." "Nobody does this here." "But this way we cut out a step, we save on the distributors." "You're getting me involved in shit." "Trust me, come on!" "Well, I I always do the same thing." "At a certain point in the story I start to feel a bit stressed really stressed, maybe..." "I can't breathe and so I run away." "Great!" "Yes, it's a quite a simple dynamic, but that's... how it is." "Now I'm trying not to do that any more." "I worked hard at it..." "This time I really gave it my all." "But...?" "But I ran away again." "Only this time it's a little more serious maybe." "Does the father know?" "Yes yes... but that changes nothing." "What?" "Is it all right if I stay here a few days?" "Is it all right?" "You have to stay here a few days." "As long as you want." "See what a great place I found for you." "There's even the sea." "Not here exactly, but we'll find it." "This is where everyone meets up on Saturday night." "I'll take you there, if you like." "Last week one of the farm workers told me his wife is pregnant with her third child, and he wants to take her to Italy." "They've got relatives near Milan." "It made me think of a book I read before I left about Romanian workers in Italy." "It says that they're like the sun, born here in the East and that goes to die in the West." "Then there's Gheorghe, Christian's cousin, who lived in Bucharest until a couple of years ago, and then came back and now lives with his widowed sister." "Every Wednesday evening, he stays late at work, because her lover, who comes all the way from Timisoara, is there." " And Christian...?" " Christian his father was a magician under Communism, an illusionist, then he lost his job and he's still in Bucharest looking for work." "But he says that in autumn he'll give us a hand with the harvest as well." "In autumn, I'll be a mum..." "It seems a lifetime away, autumn, doesn't it?" "You have to show me how to turn on the boiler for the shower." "Here or in Bari?" "Where are you taking me today?" "Impossible." "Ivo, impossible." "Everyone's on strike tomorrow." "How do you mean?" "Away..." "Italy." "You played football?" "A few times." "Explain to me what's going on." "We fucked up." "You heard what they said at the supermarket." "It was the only way." "Impossible to deliver in advance." "But at least this way we can pay the salaries." "Stop acting like a teacher!" "You know dick-all about how things work here." "'Ashes'" "My father built all this, you know?" "I never worked here..." "I only used to come to steal apples for my friends." "I didn't want to be a farmer." "All the antifreeze is burned." "I tried to find some, but no-one has any to give us." "Who do you think it was?" "Distributors that we cut out?" "Farmers that left?" "I've known them since they were children." "It was already difficult before..." "Without antifreeze, the plants die here." "We're not in Italy." "It's the wind." "You sure?" "Sure." "Thanks for staying." "Mind you, your Romanian holiday..." "It's not your fault." "I got the plane tickets." "So you're running away from me, too?" "Why, are you wanting to stay here?" "I can't leave." "What if Lon closes?" "Ion won't close and then if he does..." "we'll find something else together." "Ivo, what are you saying?" "It's not like I can stay here..." "So what did you come for?" "All right..." "I'll give birth here, then... and at Christmas we can send apple jelly to our friends... and in summer take a trip to Transylvania, I don't know... if they don't burn our house down." "I haven't even unpacked the boxes in Bari!" "You have to open your eyes." "You have to realise you've tried but what did you find here?" "Tell me, tell me, what?" "How long do you think they can survive before they freeze?" "Why don't you want to tell me?" "Because you wouldn't understand anything." "Who was it?" "Come on..." "How long can the plants survive?" "I don't know, but not long." "Best forget it." "But can we not apply for a loan?" "How long does it takes for the insurance?" "We did everything we could, Ivo." " Do you want to sell everything?" " Or do you want the plants to die?" "I'm sorry that you came here for this shit." "You should go back to Italy." "Ivo?" "'Fires'" "The riverbanks here are full of stones, which is why the boats were built with seasoned wood." "And it's a very hard wood that burns slowly." "The plates spread heat in the ground." "They did the same to warm up the oranges in Apulia." "Then, there are lots of boats, so there's lots of wood." "I don't understand what doubts you have." " What are you afraid of?" " I can't explain." "So trust us trust us." "Yeah!" "Alexanko, bottom right." "Pedraza, bottom right." "Pichi Alonso, bottom right." "Marcos, bottom left." "I saved four penalties out of four." "I was Steaua's goalkeeper." "1986..." "European Cup final." "The King of Spain a Real Madrid fan..." "gave me a Mercedes because we beat Barcelona." "The next day, Ceausescu's son had my hands broken." "Why?" "Because he wanted my Mercedes." "And you?" "It's a matter of principle." "I saved the penalties." "Now they want me to be chairman of Steaua... the club's in crisis." "They say they need a hero..." "It was them who wanted to buy everything." "So it was them who burned...?" "And you'll say yes to them?" "We're farmers, Ivo." "Are you really going back to Bari now?" "Sorry" "If I love you, I love you" "I don't know what I did wrong but I love you, I love you." "See?" "You're the call" "I shout to you, what's wrong?" "If I love you, I love you" "If you want, we can discuss it" "But I love you, I love you" "I love you, I love you" "Look, I'm already going crazy" "But I won't sell myself because I know I love you, I love you" "I'm not dreaming" "If I go too far, I need to I love you, I love you" "If you want, we can discuss it" "But I love you, I love you" "I love you, I love you" "Sit down, look at me, read me" "Live me, tear me, sell me, steal me" "Take me, feel me, love me, buy me" "Kiss me, leave me, look at me, lick me" "At most I'll surrender" "But I love you, I love you" "I love you, I love you" "Sorry" "If I love you, I love you" "What would you do in my place?" "I love you, I love you" "I feel the whole world in my hand" "Then it's true I love you, I love you" "If you want, we can discuss it" "But I love you, I love you" "I love you, I love you" "Sit down, look at me, read me" "Live me, tear me, take me, sell me, steal me" "At most I'll surrender" "But I love you, I love you" "I love you, I love you" "Sorry" "If I love you, I love you" "See?" "I love you, I love you" "Sorry" "If I love you, I love you" "See?" "I love you, I love you" "'Tomorrow'" "It won't take long, then I'll take you to the airport" "We're almost there." "I've found it."