He could still see that day in his eyes, spent by the sea on that small island off the coast of Lazio. The shouts, the laughter, the sun and the salt air were already a fading memory, but not the colour of the eyes and the smile of that girl in front of whom he was now sitting. Time was passing inexorably. Soon the ship would enter the harbour and they would be home.

With the boldness of his sixteen years, he closed his eyes and timidly brushed the very corner of her lips with a kiss. His heart was pounding; he feared everyone would notice. An infinitesimal moment passed, but to him it felt like a century. She turned, looked him in the eyes. Those eyes the colour of the sea and the sky. His cheeks flushed crimson as her voice said to him a simple and definitive: “How dare you!”

Forty-seven years would pass from that 29th of July, but the taste of that barely touched kiss was still on his lips. He had never forgotten her, and now she was finally there in his arms, her eyes smiling, transparent and full of love.

He lost himself in the cerulean sea of her eyes.

She was where she had always wanted to be, forever.