The author recounts his childhood as one where he felt, for various reasons, insignificant, a nobody. He reflects on how those memories have shaped his life and his writing. Personal memories, together with a return to the various sites in Caserta, allow his feelings about the past to keep resurfacing.

The man who calls himself Giuseppe Verdi had been abandoned by his mother as a child, and, as an adult, had gone looking for her. Realizing the kind of life she led, his psychological problems spiraled out of control.

What are the parts of a swimming pool? What do we need to have with us when we go there? Marika answers these questions.