The Multiple Mr. Ripleys

I’ve been doing a re-reading/re-watching of The Talented Mr. Ripley family1 (please don’t make me say “franchise”), taking my vicarious Italian summer from Venice2 to Mongibello and Rome. Italy’s never been that high on my travel list, but this early NYC heatwave is making me want to pretend that the sweltering sidewalk humidity is actually from the golden Neapolitan sun, Piero Piccioni’s soundtrack for C’era Una Volta playing in the background. I even first wrote this piece on my typewriter, pretending I’m Tom or Dickie on theirs (Olivettis in the movies, an Hermes in the novel).