Marco Masini
Il cielo della vergine

THE REVIEW

Among the hedges of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there is white gravel scattered on the ground. Above, the red corner of Porta Maggiore stands out. At the entrance of the gardens, there is a sign with crossed-out symbols: a bicycle, a soccer ball, skates. The wheels sunk, and I flew down to the embankment of Via del Corso, where the corpulent beer drinkers are fishing.

Every descent is a zoom. As long as the pedals never stop and beneath me the disk of the city keeps spinning!

The narrow passage between the concert fence and the sidewalk is blocked by a van, parked at P.zza Venezia. Three border policemen dressed in green (strangely) are there with legs spread. They are waiting for me.

"Please, get off, this is a checkpoint." While a tall fat man with a hooked nose turns my bicycle over, a wiry guy with an angry look shines a flashlight on it and a small guy holds a notebook, ready to record the serial number. I count his freckles.

"Do you have the vehicle's documents?" the fat man asks, chewing gum. Stunned, I pat my pocket. I didn’t have the documents with me, and to divert the question, I asked the three policemen if, by any chance, any of them wanted a cigarette.
None of the three smoked.

"Don't you have, a light?" the freckled one asks me curiously. He has a large knife on his belt.

"I did have it, I did have it," I say, "but they stole my bike, and now the light is gone."

The other one muses on my answer and starts fiddling with his belt. The people at the Marco Masini concert, meanwhile, get bored, while behind us some people leave the concert, fiddling with snacks and sipping raspberry bowls.

"How long will it take?" I ask, but the wiry guy just cracks his fingers and yawns.

A girl with flushed cheeks and hair blowing in the wind rides past us. She had a blissful look, smiling and humming an incomprehensible melody, probably a Marco Masini song, for I thought to myself to skip that Masini concert and very kindly asked for a cigarette from the chubby policeman, who gave it to me just as kindly.