La Serenissima

Abiti da Silvana

"I know, I know. I'm late and I'm sorry." She didn't know why she was apologizing to the women in front of her. Coming straight from Ca'Foscari, she had ran most of the way over bridges and canals to meet them on time. The women, who she had come to think of as her older sisters, knew how her schedule went and making her meet them right int he middle of her second lecture hall was just cruel.

Ally Dawson, who looked like the odd girl out in a mess of beautiful blond bombshells, double checked that everything that she had put into her bag was still in her bag before having her arm snatched by Vittoria and making her keep up with the group as they got going. Ally, a student at the famed Italian University was in her final year of her fellowship and staying with the women's parents, Silvana and Benedetto Nicoletti. They were a good family, a great one if she was comparing it to her own.

Since she had graduated from Columbia University in New York, Ally didn't feel she was done quite yet and seeing the opportunity for the amazing program at Ca'Foscari, jumped at the chance and she was glad she did. Her Ph.D program was a mixture of Italian Studies and Management and she already had an amazing job lined up after her graduation in the spring. Staying with the Nicoletti's made everything about her studies that much easier...especially because they were patrons of the university and knew each and every one of the professors and administrators there. Not that she ever used them to get her way...okay, it was once...but it was good to know that they would do that for her.

The Nicoletti's were actually quite famous in Venice. She found that out the first year she came to stay and there was a line outside the door to get into her temporary home. The family had been famously attached the the War of Fists in the 1600s against the Castinelli's. Benedetto was a direct descendant of the family members who survived the fights that turned into bloody massacres by the 1700s and had a mini-museum in their home to prove it all. As the couple were older now, running the museum was their only job. Before though, Benedetto had a successful fishing business that his sons still carried on and Silvana, a dress maker. In fact, she was possibly the best dress maker in the Floating City, as far as Ally could tell. She had been "retired" for years, but Venetians still sought her out for their garments and she was always measuring up some friend for a new dress.

This time however, Silvana wouldn't be doing 1,000 dresses for the upcoming Carnevale. Instead, she'd only be doing eight and that's exactly why Ally had been running to meet all of Silvana's daughters. Today was the first day that their Carnevale planning began...even though there was still a full month to go. Ally had stayed with the Nicoletti's before during a semester abroad while she was at Columbia and she knew that this was the drill. The family really went all out with their costumes and while she had been excited her first time around, this time...it was just in the middle of major papers and lectures and getting her thesis done. In truth, Carnevale could not come at a worse time.

The first year she had participated, Ally was recruited by the family as the "ugly" swan in their group presentation, and it was fun. This time, the family had already decided what they would be going as and the youngest daughter, Gianna, was heading it all up. Along with her sisters, Seraphina, twins Paola and Mercede, and Vittoria - they would be going as a bouquet of roses for Il Ballo del Doge, the elegant and exclusive masquerade ball. Gianna, who was following in her mother's footsteps as the dress maker to know and go to in Venice, had all the plans in her hands and while Ally was itching to find out just exactly what she would be wearing, she was more concerned at this moment of what she was missing in her lecture.

"I don't want to wear red, Gianna," Mercede insisted in her broken Italian accent. "Make Paola wear red."

"No. I'm blue. I'm always blue."

"What about yellow? Can I be yellow?"

As Gianna tried to give her sisters the colors that they wanted, Ally walked beside Vittoria as they arrived at Silvana's old shoppe. Ally's mind broke away from the lectures she was missing and into a world that was more mysterious then her father's new girlfriend was. That was another story for another time. Her mind was still on her lectures. She was missing out on Social Concepts and Urban Development and even though she trusted Marco, a fellow Ph.D student, to give her the notes, she still felt she needed to be there instead of here...with five gorgeous women who were going to prick and prod her with pins in moments.