Il Professore Romualdo

A meticulous mathematician, the professor spends his mornings lost in elegant proofs, his mind ever‑occupied by the delicate geometry of cones and curves. His routine is interrupted one May morning in 1861 when a modest housekeeper delivers a sealed letter from an unfamiliar captain in Genoa, demanding his immediate presence for a matter of “extrema importanza.” The cryptic request, written in formal naval script and signed by the enigmatic Antonio Rodomiti, hints at a secret that cannot be entrusted to ordinary channels.

Compelled by curiosity and a sense of duty that belies his otherwise solitary habits, the professor must decide whether to abandon his lecture hall and laboratory for a hurried journey north. As the train whistle sounds and the cityscape blurs past, he is drawn into a web of intrigue that links his scholarly world to the bustling ports and shadowy dealings of maritime Italy. The stage is set for a collision between precise logic and unforeseen adventure.