There were many beautiful passages about Venice, Italy but one of the passages that stuck with me the most was towards the end of the book.
The passage reads, "Fine. Here's one last condition." Victor finished a mint out of his desk drawer and popped it into his mouth. "You will tell your father." Scipio's face darkened. "What am I going to write to him?" Victor shrugged. "That you're all right. That you're going to go traveling. That you'll look in on them in ten years or so. You'll think of something." "Darn!" Scipio spluttered. "OK, I'll do it. If you teach me how to be a detective."
This passage haunted me because I can only imagine if I were Dottor Massimo how upset I would be to know that my child vanished without a trace. Even though he seemed cold and heartless throughout the book, he still seemed like he cared about Scipio. Unlike Esther, he clearly put in effort to find Scipio by announcing a missing ad in the newspaper. He seemed to really want to find his son, granted I am puzzled by the Dottor's overall character.
This passage really bothered me because I hope that Scipio honored his word and will write his father even if he doesn't want to live with him. His father may have treated him much younger than Scipio would have like to have been treated but it seems as if his father were always available unlike his mother.