Caterina in the Big City

A 13-year-old girl at the center of a fractured family and a city in flux. She moves between two powerful social circles in Rome, navigating loyalty, identity, and the ache of growing up as her world shifts around her. By the summer’s end, she fares through heartbreak, friendship, and a quiet, hopeful maturity during a climactic conservatory performance.

An aspiring novelist and sharp-tongued accounting teacher whose cynicism masks deeper disappointments. His professional ambitions collide with a fractured home life, driving distance from his family and eventual disappearance that the others reinterpret as happiness elsewhere.

Caterina’s mother, emotionally strained and longing for a life apart. Her confession about wanting to leave Giancarlo reveals the fault lines within the marriage and a desire for independence amid a stifling family dynamic.

Daughter of a powerful, conservative family whose social circle wields wealth and influence. She embodies privilege and the competitive social environment that greets Caterina, highlighting the clash between different worlds in Rome’s youth culture.

Left-leaning, bohemian leader of a new friend group who introduces Caterina to rallies, poetry, and a broader cultural world. Her bond with Caterina is intense and complicated, hinting at both loyalty and danger in adolescent love and influence.

A neighbor who quietly observes the family’s drama, calling their life a soap opera. His presence offers a calm, watchful perspective and a subtle counterpoint to the city’s turmoil.