Anna, amica e collaboratrice del "signor Giovanni"  si rivela uno dei personaggi che maggiormente aiutano Lele e Lucia nel tentare di risolvere il mistero legato al progetto Betelgeuse.

La dottoressa Belarmina Amaral, nonna di Ginevra, è anche il massimo responsabile di un gruppo misterioso che si fa chiamare "L'Organizzazione" e che, a sentire loro, manipolano e indirizzano  da secoli il cammino della nostra civiltà.

Nikolaos Strati è il direttore dell' Istituto Secolare Servi di Dio a Roma, un'istituzione che cela un gruppo di potere analogo a quello di Belarmina Amaral, ma con scopo e finalità diametralmente opposte.

Ginevra Garresi, una ragazza che ha la dote particolare di ricordare eventi accaduti alle sue antenate, una dote che sconfina con la paranoia e la pazzia.

Ma ha anche una memoria che custodisce un antico segreto

E' il momento dei ricordi, delle riflessioni, ma è anche tempo di paura e morte.

Gli eventi precipitano e il mondo 'diverso' che ormai è diventato vita quotidiana dei personaggi inizia a mutare, i suoi confini sono sempre più indefiniti e la raltà scivola verso il pericoloso mondo della pazzia.

Il romanzo inizia in una Venezia distopica ma estremamente reale, una Venezia soggiogata da un regime che ha forti similitudini con lo stato di terrore vissuto dal popolo Cambogiano sotto la dittatura di Pol Pot...

Ruth o come viene soprannominata dai suoi uomini "Lady Ruth" è il braccio armato di Emilia Rossetto, nonchè la sua amante.Spietata e abilissima combattente comanda una squadra di assassini con pugno di ferro.Ha una particolarità che la rende unica: adora essere nuda quando uccide!

Il Government Orphanage: An Institution for Children With Mental Retardation di Prisoje in Croazia è l'istituto su cui convergono i sospetti principali  di Medini e Thorpe e che ben presto si rivela qualcosa di molto diverso da un centro di accoglienza per orfani.

Come avevo già accennato nella presentazione della Trilogia, nel primo romanzo "la tela del diavolo" si evidenzia il primo approccio che persone normali si ritrovano ad avere con esperienze fuori dal comune, sia nel campo sprirituale che in quello fisico.

E' il primo incontro con "qualcosa di diverso", un mondo che però ben presto diventa estremamente reale.

Negli altri due, "La Disubbidiente" e "Ombre senza tempo" invece, i personaggi sono già consapevoli di realtà diverse dall'ordinario e quindi ho potuto liberare la fantasia senza il vincolo di giustificare in continuazione le mie scelte in modo plausibile.

"La Disubbidiente" prende il via con una dichiarazione pubblica di un ministro delle Pari Opportunità sul tema delle adozioni internazionali, e sul suo successivo misterioso assassinio.

Subito però, ci ritroviamo invece in un mondo parallelo, ammantato di un'atmosfera medievale e pregna di spiritualità, che ci fa entrare in un particolare convento femminile dove gli eventi ci conducono addirittura a confrontarci con la stessa Genesi.

Un mondo che però ha un inquietante collegamento con il nostro, una connessione che costringerà i personaggi principali che avevamo conosciuto nel primo romanzo ad affrontare una situazione estremamente pericolosa.

Quindi ritroviamo e seguiremo l'ex capitano dei Carabinieri Marco Redaelli, il colonnello Alessandro Medini e l'ufficiale di polizia dell'Interpol William C. Thorpe, impegnati a sopravvivere ad un attacco tanto feroce quanto inconsueto.

Anna materialized on her own, inserting herself into the novel almost with a will of her own.

However, from being a figure intended to create relaxing moments in the story, where one can talk about cooking and good wine, she has become as the Trilogy progresses an indispensable presence, flanking the characters with intelligence and affection, wit and common sense.

Certainly born out of my personal experiences with Venetian hostesses, sometimes "friends" sometimes "mothers," she alternately fills the role of confessor, confidant, advisor.

Surely one cannot say one knows Venice if one has not met at least one of these figures, practically indispensable in the city's social life.

Da figura destinata a creare momenti rilassanti del racconto, dove si può parlare di cucina e di buon vino, è però diventata con il progredire della Trilogia una presenza indispensabile, che affianca i personaggi con intelligenza ed affetto, arguzia e buon senso.

Sicuramente nata dalle mie esperienze personali con le Ostesse veneziane, a volte "amiche" a volte "mamme", ricopre alternativamente il ruolo di confessore, confidente, consigliere.

Sicuramente non si può dire di conoscere Venezia se non si è conosciuta almeno una di queste figure, praticamente indispensabili nella vita sociale cittadina.

Here I travel in pure fantasy, although somehow I have tried to keep it connected with a possible as well as questionable truth.

Needing to somehow balance the spiritual world of the Jimbutas sisters, I have searched the field of science for possible hooks and plausible explanations.

Starting with the supposed experiment in 1943 in Philadelphia harbor involving the military ship Eldrige D.E. 173, an experiment that would even have involved Albert Einstein as a scientific advisor to the U.S. Navy, I delved into the theories related to Parallel Universes and possible Time Travel and Wormholes.

Thus I created a Special Section of Interpol, which as Thorp himself directly explains, " ...and so, when in 1946 Belgium led the reconstruction of the old ICPC, the International Criminal Police Commission, dismantled because of the war, effectively laying the foundations of modern Interpol, a confidential section was created, with the task of constantly monitoring any unexplained or mysterious facts that could in any way be linked to Einstein's experiments..."

Undeniably, the figure of William C. Thorpe is taken in full stride from the imagination of the Anglo-Saxon policeman: black, stocky, gruff and angular, intolerant of rules, with a propensity to solve problems drastically and quickly, he is, however, also a keen observer, capable of thoroughly analyzing the situations in which he finds himself involved.

Dovendo equilibrare in qualche modo il mondo spirituale delle sorelle Jimbutas, ho cercato nel campo della scienza possibili agganci e spiegazioni plausibili.

Partendo dal supposto esperimento compiuto nel 1943 nel porto di Filadelfia, che ha visto coinvolta la nave militare Eldrige D.E. 173, esperimento che addirittura avrebbe visto coinvolto Albert Einstein come consigliere scientifico della Marina degli Stati Uniti,  mi sono addentrato nelle teorie relative agli Universi Paralleli e ai possibili Viaggi Temporali e ai Wormhole.

Così ho creato una Sezione Speciale dell'Interpol che come spiega direttamente lo stesso Thorp:  « ...e quindi, quando nel 1946 il Belgio condusse la ricostruzione del vecchio ICPC, la Commissione Criminale Internazionale della Polizia, smantellata a causa della guerra, gettando di fatto le basi della moderna Interpol, venne creata una sezione riservata, con il compito di monitorare costantemente ogni fatto inspiegabile o misterioso che potesse in qualche modo essere ricollegato agli esperimenti di Einstein...»

The presence of the "Arma dei Carabinieri" in the entire trilogy has a special significance. On the one hand, I wanted to balance the novels, all three of which undoubtedly have a strong esoteric connotation, with characters endowed instead with a much more concrete vision of reality, and linked above all to a universal concept of Law and Justice. On the other, it allowed me to range precisely in the complicated connection and relationship that exists between the concept of Law and that of Justice.

Colonel Alessandro Medini encapsulates these different worlds in himself, but at the same time he is also a keen observer who is not afraid to approach the situations that involve him with different and very personal optics.

A loyal servant of the "Arma," attentive to rules and ethics, he is also, however, one of the closest collaborators, as well as a fraternal friend of William Christopher Thorpe, a policeman in charge of a very restricted as well as mysterious section of Interpol.

Il Colonnello Alessandro Medini racchiude in se stesso questi diversi mondi, ma al contempo è anche un acuto osservatore che non teme di affrontare le situazioni che lo coinvolgono con ottiche diverse e personalissime.

Fedele servitore dell'"Arma", attento alle regole e all'etica è anche però uno dei più stretti collaboratori, oltre che amico fraterno di William Christopher Thorpe, un poliziotto a capo di una ristrettissima quanto misteriosa sezione dell'Interpol.

'Carabinieri' Captain Marco Redaelli is one of the pivotal figures not only in this novel, but in the entire "Mystery Trilogy."

A 'Carabinieri' officer stationed in Rome at the "Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale" is a close friend of Michele Barovier, and it is he who will find himself investigating the professor.

He is born out of the need to balance the Jimbutas sisters' and Emy's worldview with a much more pragmatic view of reality, but he is also an open-minded person, who events will lead to decisions that are puzzling at first glance.

Ufficiale dell'Arma dei Carabinieri, di stanza a Roma, al “Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio

Culturale" è un amico fraterno di Michele Barovier, ed è lui che si troverà ad indagare sul professore.

La sua figura è nata dalla necessità di bilanciare la visione del mondo delle sorelle Jimbutas e di Emy con una visione molto più pragmatica della realtà, ma è anche una persona dalla mentalità aperta, che gli eventi porteranno a decisioni a prima vista sconcertanti.

Emy Wyfar

Of English descent, she is the youngest character in the novel.

Closely connected to the world of the Jimbutas sisters in fact she is their messenger, the one who most frequently shifts between time and space.

"My father wanted a boy and I was supposed to be named Hermes after my grandfather, but instead I was born a girl and Hermes became Emy."

Here I had fun playing between the feminine name of Emy and the masculine name of Hermes, messenger of the gods.

She is the one who contacts Michele Barovier after her first confrontation with the Devil to offer her help and she is also the one who later falls in love with Captain Marco Redaelli, creating such a solid bond that will continue throughout the trilogy.

Di origini inglesi  è il personaggio più giovane del romanzo.

Strettamente legata al mondo delle sorelle Jimbutas di fatto è la loro messaggera, quella che più frequentemente si sposta tra tempo e spazio.

Professor Michele Barovier

Michele was the last descendant of an ancient Venetian family enriched first by trading in fabrics imported from the East and then by making splendid

Murano glass objects; but only a vague memory remained of those glories now....

He was pleased with himself...

By the time he was thirty-two, his life was well on its way to deserved consolidation; he was teaching art history at the Liceo Artistico Statale in Venice, even managing to win some sympathy from his students....

He had an official girlfriend, Vanessa Della Vigna. Beautiful, blond, tall. A beautiful woman who held firmly in her own tapered the reins of both their lives, who took care to carefully regulate their schedules in order to have the necessary time to make love regularly and ensure that their fulfillments were genuine and satisfying.

They went out to dinner at least two evenings a week, hanging out with the right and selected friends, and above all, thanks to her own important employment at the Cassa di Risparmio di Venezia, she had already studied in advance a perfect plan of subsidized mortgages for their future home, furniture and the ever-present optional pension...

Michele's only extravagance seemed to be his heightened interest in the history of Art, something that by all accounts went far beyond a normal professional commitment. A passion so intense that even Vanessa had not felt like countering it,

indeed, she had even convinced herself that having as rivals women such as Botticelli's Venus or ethereal ladies holding delightful ermines, was an elegant game that her boyfriend's pastime allowed her to play with her closest friends.

So a posed person with a remarkable and carefully cultivated artistic sensibility and love of the Beautiful.

But also with passions and desires that he keeps carefully hidden, even from himself.

Passions that will lead him to trespass into the unknown and fear, opening doors to his... Devil!

Presenting a thriller is virtually impossible; all the attention an Author puts into devising the plot and creating twists and turns that bring the novel to life would be immediately ruined by trying to simplify it into a short presentation.But-if I cannot talk about the novel, I can, however, talk about the characters who bring the novel to life!

Since the Devil I had conjured up was not exactly the Christian one, I wanted to expand the "spirituality" side by asking for help from experiences and knowledge I had laced with the cultural movement of "Wicca," and almost automatically the figure of Marija Gimbutas, a Lithuanian archaeologist and linguist, an expert on Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of ancient Europe, who with her books on "Myth and Worship of the Mother Goddess in Neolithic Europe," came forward powerfully.

But repurposing her in my novel did not make sense, so I doubled her and gave life to the Jimbutas sisters, Carlotta and Lilith, additionally endowing them with mysterious arcane powers.

The figure of the devil takes its cue from Igor Sibaldi's beautiful book "Il frutto proibito della conoscenza" which took me back to my youth and the many years I spent in a religious college.

Years where the concept of the "Devil" was well defined and widely represented.

But also years where (perhaps due to my good fortune or a great open-mindedness of my teachers) I had been spurred to "look beyond," to not stop at appearances but to always ask new questions.

So I had then approached the image of the devil from different points of view, some even not really ordososso, if I must confess.

So the image of the Devil, not as the "Prince of Evil," but rather as the very ancient "Lord of the Gates," the embodiment of fear of the unknown and consequently of the "new" that we inevitably face, was familiar to me.

Even the Christian theological view of the heavens, from the esoteric and hermetic Ladder of Jacob narrated in Genesis, to the heavens of Dante in the Divine Comedy, I had dealt with it several times, but Sibaldi's book had brought me right back to the view of the Devil as a product of our fears, our deepest and most hidden desires.

So it is in this context that he appears in the book, generated by the fears and passions of one of the novel's protagonists, Michele Barovier.

Ma...  se non posso parlare del romanzo, posso però parlare dei personaggi che fanno vivere il romanzo!

Let's start with "The Mystery Trilogy."

I have no compunction in admitting it, deciding to write a book, in itself is already a gamble, starting with a trilogy then is completely insane, but to my detriment I confess right away that I had not started with that intent, in the absolute way!

The whole thing came by itself, exactly as the novels then wrote themselves.

The misdeed started from an interesting book by Igor Sibaldi, "Il frutto proibito della conoscenza" and especially from the image the Author provides of the "Devil."

Devil not seen as the "antichrist" or "prince of evil," but rather as the very ancient "Lord of the Gates," the embodiment of fear of the unknown and consequently of the new that we face. Fears strongly rooted in our souls. Sibaldi then also provided some keys to conquer this atavistic fear by discomfiting characters and testimonies that, starting from the Bible and the Gospels reached all the way to the fairy tale of Snow White, passing through Prometheus and Merlin.

At this point, however, I must make another confession, and reveal a deep religious upbringing of my own due to a series of colleges and religious institutions that involved me at various levels from first grade to high school.

So the word "Devil," and consequently the subsequent concept of the "Seven Heavens," were not only extremely familiar to me, but I had already dissected them several times from different perspectives...though not always orthodox.

Dealing then with the theme of the "Devil," as an expression of the unconscious fear that everyone has of his or her own secret passions and of having at the same time to confront the fears of the unknown, had intrigued me not a little.

Thus, little by little characters had appeared in my imagination that over time had taken on more and more solidity and consistency, and the idea of telling a story where very ordinary individuals, immersed in concrete everyday reality, were abruptly brought into contact with "spirituality," drew me into the barren valley of writing.

But by then I was on my way, and although almost immediately I had to admit that not only was I totally ill-equipped for that journey, but that I had not even the slightest idea where to go, I nevertheless kept going.

Thus were born the characters of Michele Barovier and his fiancée Vanessa Dalla Vigna, one a professor at the Liceo Artistico, the other a bank executive, about to consolidate their union and consequently to plan their future in the most reasonable and sensible way.

On the other side, however, I had to represent 'spirituality,' and since the Devil I had in mind was not really the one of the Gospels, I opted for an alternative spirituality, and contacts and experiences with the world of "Wicca," a well-known cultural and spiritual movement related to the fundamental values of nature, came to my aid.

And to represent it I pulled in Marija Gimbutas, a Lithuanian archaeologist and linguist who is an expert on Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of Ancient Europe, who had long before fascinated me with her books on 'Myth and Worship of the Mother Goddess in Neolithic Europe.'

But repurposing her in my novel made no sense, so I doubled her and brought to life the Jimbutas sisters, Carlotta and Lilith, followers of Wicca and profound connoisseurs of the unknown.

By now I had made the leap, and two witches had entered the novel, although they too were not exactly representative of the common concept of "Witch."

But this unbalanced the tale, taking it dangerously down the road of the occult.

So I balanced it with science! More or less.

I then plucked liberally from quantum physics, pulling in Hugh Everett III and his "many worlds" theory and Einstein with the 1943 experiment in Philadelphia harbor on the military ship Eldrige.D.E.173, paving the way for parallel worlds and time machines.

At that point I had created a balance between mystery, spirituality, magic, science and everyday banality.

More than one topic of discussion at my imaginary dinner party.

Satisfied, I then let the novel finish itself, and he, without any mercy, drew from the depths of the characters with full force, dragging fears, passions, sex, love, hate to the light.

In case you are interested in how the story ends you can always read it! The title of the first book is "The Devil's canvas."

At that point, however, I had, yes, in my hand a complete novel, but one that opened the way, however, to a subsequent reasoning.

I had initiated the unexpected encounter of very ordinary individuals with both the world of the occult and the world of science fiction, which as we all know increasingly ends up turning into mainstream science at the speed of light, and the question that came to me was, "but if I wrote a story where the characters first had to discover and accept 'different' realities and concepts, what story could I tell with the same characters when they are already aware of them? "

And there the idea of the trilogy was born.