A city that knows each of us and loves us accordingly, even if we have never set foot on its viali, sets the stage for events connecting eight characters’ lives. Most would not have crossed paths if not for Rome -- this ninth, and perhaps most influential, protagonist. Against the backdrop of history and camera-ready vistas, however, a noir Rome emerges: populated by transients and migrants and still saturated with the crisis of European civilization, its search for faith, and the turmoil of the late 20th century. The eternal city absorbs and alters the fates of its inhabitants, who bring with them the memories of their distant homes and pasts, which converge as a tuning fork upon which the polyphony of the novel is trained. The first novel of an accomplished poet, its prose resonates with attention to sound and language.