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grape juice. With two glasses, in case you change your mind."

"Do you remember how much we laughed when you offered it to me the first time and I thought it was really grape juice and I was amazed that it wasn't grape season?" 

"I remember that time and every time we laughed, Daughter. It's important to know how to laugh, especially when you're as serious as you and I are."

"If things had gone differently, we risked being neighbors," I said, pointing to the left. "Palazzo Gritti was once part of the Grand Hotel complex, with the two buildings next to it, Ferro and Fini. They belonged to the grandfather who wanted to leave Calle del Rimedio to move to the Grand Canal. But he had financial troubles. He had promised to bring the electricity to an area near San Michele, but problems and unforeseen difficulties increased the expenses. Grandfather did not want to take his word back and still completed the work but he did not have enough money left to restore the two buildings. So he remained in Calle del Remedy and rented Ferro e Fini to the company of large hotels, the CIGA. Queen Victoria also stayed in the rooms where her grandfather was supposed to go, when she came to Venice."

"It would have been nice to have you as a neighbor, although I am fond of Calle del Rimedio. I never imagined that the Grand Hotel belonged to the Ivancichs." 

"I also discovered it by chance, the family doesn't talk about money or property. For a while, papa often didn't come back for breakfast and when I asked where he was, they replied that he was at the Grand Hotel. He was requisitioned by the Germans, he always went to the Grand Hotel. Only later did I learn that it was a third of his, a third of Aunt Laura and a third of Aunt Emma. I found out because Aunt Emma was constantly complaining that if not...