Beneath a Scarlet Sky

As it begins to rain, Pino and Mimo hurry toward the fashion district of Milan, where their Uncle Albert owns a store and factory. Inside, Pino sees his Aunt Greta talking to a Nazi officer. Pino observes the officer’s uniform and gathers that the man is Geheime Staatspolizei, a high-ranking officer in Hitler’s secret police. When the officer leaves, Aunt Greta tells Uncle Albert that the man is the new Gestapo chief for northern Italy and that the Gestapo is taking over the Hotel Regina. Aunt Greta then comments that Pino is late to help prepare for his mother’s party.

Pino and Mimo rush home. Pino is worried about his mother’s reaction to him being late. He describes his mother as a “human hurricane” (20). Pino’s mother is furious with Pino and Mimo for being late and she begins interrogating Pino about his whereabouts. Pino lies to his mother and tells her he ate some bad street food and got caught in the rain coming home. Mimo backs up Pino’s lie and tells their mother that Pino had to stop to use the bathroom three times. Pino then tells his mother about the Gestapo colonel at Albert’s shop and informs her that the Nazis are taking over the Hotel Regina. Pino’s mother’s anger turns quickly to worry.

In his room, Pino listens to jazz music. He wants the Americans to come to Italy because he thinks they’ll bring jazz music with them. In Pino’s house, opera music reigns supreme, and Pino’s love of jazz angers his father. Pino listens to Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman on his shortwave radio and imagines what life is like in America. At 6:15 p.m., Pino sneaks out of his bedroom window to meet Anna at the movie theater. Mimo catches Pino sneaking out and scoffs that Anna won’t be there.

When Pino arrives at the theater, he buys two tickets and waits outside for Anna. When she doesn’t show up, he’s disappointed. Mimo joins him outside the theater, and Pino gives Mimo the other ticket. The two of them watch the movie together until an air raid siren interrupts it. The panicking crowd rushes to exit the theater. Allied bombers have begun firing over Milan.

People in the theater begin to panic and rush for the doors as bombs begin to fall in Milan. Pino and Mimo are briefly stuck in the mob of people until an explosion blows out the theater’s back wall. Something hits Pino on the cheek and cuts it open. Pino and Mimo fight their way outside and make their way to the Duomo. As they run down the streets together, Pino sees a crowd gathered around a girl who had died in the streets and lost her arm. Once they get to the Duomo, Pino notices there isn’t any destruction by the cathedral. He can still hear the wails of people in the distance, but it seems that the cardinal’s plan to protect the cathedral from bombs has worked.

Pino and Mimo make their way back home to find people at the party playing music. Pino is furious that they are playing music when the city is on fire. Pino’s mother makes him wash up and has a doctor at the party stitch Pino’s cheek. Pino then makes himself a plate of food and sees Tullio, a close family friend. Tullio is “a handsome, impeccably dressed man in his twenties” (28). Pino then asks Tullio about Gestapo Colonel Walter Rauff. Tullio turns very serious and tells Pino, “We don’t talk about people like Rauff in places like this. Understand?” (29). Before he goes to bed, Pino hears the musicians at the party talking about Rabbi Zolli telling the Jews in Rome to flee. Pino knows that Hitler and the Nazis hate the Jews, but he doesn’t understand why.

The next day, Pino goes to see Carletto at his father’s business. Together, they walk to the theater to see it in the light of day after the bombing. Along the way, Pino tells Carletto the story of what happened to him last night. Carletto asks Pino if he thinks the bombers will come back that night.

The bombing in Milan continues through June and into July of 1943. Pino and Carletto wander the streets during the day and survey the damage done by Allied bombers. Pino thinks of Anna almost every day and wonders if she is still alive. Michele sends Mimo to Casa Alpina, a camp in the Alps north of Lake Como. Pino refuses to go to the camp and wants to stay in Milan.

Rome is bombed, and Michele thinks that the war will soon be over, as Allied forces drive the Germans from Sicily. King Vittorio Emanuele III arrests Benito Mussolini and imprisons him in a fortress on Gran Sasso Mountain north of Rome.

Nazis set up antiaircraft guns, checkpoints, and machine gun nests in Milan. Rauff establishes a curfew: “If you were caught out after hours, you were arrested. If you were caught breaking curfew without papers, you could be shot” (36).

Pino learns why the Allies are bombing Milan in early August: They are attempting to blow up the machine tools of northern Italy before the Germans can use them to prolong the war. Bombs begin detonating closer to the Lellas’ building. Pino’s mother decides to leave with Cicci. Again, Michele tries to get Pino to leave for Casa Alpina, but Pino refuses for a second time. Pino, Michele, Aunt Greta, Uncle Albert, and Tullio begin taking a train out of Milan to spend the nights in the countryside to escape the Allied bombing raids.

In the country, Pino and Carletto walk among the fig trees and talk about Carletto’s terminally ill mother. Carletto is angry with his father because he thinks that his father is afraid to show his mother that he loves her.

After their talk, Pino and Carletto witness their fathers playing “Nessun Dorma” for a crowd. Michele is playing the violin, and Mr. Beltramini is singing. At first, the two boys are embarrassed because they think the performance isn’t going to be any good. However, both of their fathers perform very well, and Pino and Carletto are moved to tears. Pino points out to Carletto that Carletto’s father is singing to Carletto’s mother as if there were no one else but them in the world.

On September 4, British and American forces land at Salerno, and Pino and his family believe that the war will soon be over. However, less than 24 hours later, Nazis seize control of Rome. Nazi commandos then free Mussolini from his prison and fly him to Berlin to meet Hitler. The Germans begin to invade Italy and install Mussolini in a puppet government.

After returning home from spending the night in the countryside, Pino and his father discover that the bombing has destroyed their house. Michele breaks down crying in the middle of the street. Uncle Albert attempts to comfort him, saying that they can rebuild. Finally, Michele angrily decides that Pino has no choice in the matter; Pino must leave for Casa Alpina.