Breakfast at the Palazzo Sangiorgio

Breakfast is served in the courtyard of the hotel. An Italian woman in a white shift talks on her phone, as she brings her plate of food from the breakfast buffet to the table. She's classically attractive and used to sashaying through existence, impervious to the world around her--or perhaps not. Perhaps this is a fantasy indulged by an impertinent observer. You never know what's in another human being's peripheral vision. The breakfast service is almost over and the tables are being cleared. Construction workers are loudly firing back at each other, the words echoing through a nearby site. Now as the alcove is finally cleared two American couples continue to talk about Sy Newhouse, Condé Nast and American publishing during the '80s.