Fante di picche

Donato, a twenty‑two‑year‑old Milanese with a quick wit and a talent for both swordplay and the newly popular velocipede, spends a languid July in his family’s country house near Romanò. He moves effortlessly between the carefree whirl of the Veloce‑Club and the quiet expectations of his father Norberto’s modest villa, while his sister Mariuccia watches him with a mixture of admiration and protective affection. The summer air is thick with the scent of blooming lilacs, and the young man feels the pull of both his studies at the Scuola d’Applicazione and the restless rhythm of the city that beckons him home.

Beneath his charming smiles, an uneasiness begins to surface; Donato’s thoughts drift to an undefined longing that he cannot quite name. When Mariuccia discovers him staring despondently at the ground, her sudden, heartfelt outburst draws him into an intimate, tear‑filled embrace, and she asks a question that hangs in the warm evening air. Their shared silence hints at a deeper conflict that will shape the choices ahead, inviting listeners to follow Donato’s journey from youthful exuberance to an uncertain future.