Dying Light Of The Eternal City

DYING LIGHT OF THE ETERNAL CITY is first and foremost a sparkling love letter to Roma. The bulk of the action takes place over a 48 hour time period in Fall 2022. There are three main characters: WIGAN: An American traveling for the first time in Italy. He is mid to late 30s, bright and cultured, and thrilled to be living it up in the fabled capital of the world. He finds fast friends in two American cousins he meets, Chadwick and Biggles, and love with a similarly free spirited tourist named Serai. Over several drinks at hotspots all over the city, late night dancing at a nightclub off Via Veneto, and an afterhours, early morning stroll through Borghese Gardens among other Roman landmarks, Wigan develops deep attachments to both Chadwick and Serai. Rome is eternal, but does goodbye have to be also? Friendship, romance, and questions of destiny, fate and time are played out against the spectacular backdrop of a city that will endure long after Wigan and his companions have gone. SERAI: Another American, first time traveler in Rome, she is likewise in her late 30s and accompanied by two girlfriends, Lauri and Eileen. Serai is independent, sophisticated and dreamy, with a romantic disposition deeply rooted in the poetry of Shelley. Like Wigan, whom she falls for, Serai discovers a formidable, personal connection to the city itself--finding love with another person is the cherry on top. Returning to one or the other, or indeed both, is a tempting proposition for a woman who wants to experience as much as she can in the short time she has. CHADWICK: Unlike Wigan and Serai, Chadwick is a veteran traveler to Italy and makes an annual trip of Rome. He is late 30s, early 40s, and visiting with his cousin, Biggles. He sees and presents himself as an arbiter of taste, although whether this is an act or not is debatable. Like Wigan and Serai, Chadwick is bright, sophisticated and witty; unlike them he is a romantic cynic whose romantic dispositions have been formed by attachments to Italian waitresses, an unrequited fondness for his married, Roman friend Maria, and a deeply felt, one night romance while on holiday in London many years before. Chadwick lives to visit Italy, which he acknowledges is the only place where he truly feels alive. There are a few supporting characters. The two most important are BIGGLES, Chadwick's cousin who accompanies him on this holiday, and MARIA, a good friend of Chadwick's who lives in Rome. Biggles and Chadwick are very close, and have their own unique way of communicating and interacting with each other. While Biggles shares his cousin's passion for Rome and culture, he may favor having a good time above Chadwick's true devotion to it. Maria features in just one scene, but as someone who lives in Rome, she recognizes the passion Chadwick and Wigan hold for it and sees in them kindred spirits. THEMES Living life to the fullest and embracing the fact that they are miniscule parts in a world that was there before them and will be there long. long after them is something their time in Rome has spelled out very clearly for Wigan, Serai and Chadwick. This is part of their shared attraction to the city as well. Destiny and fate, particularly romantic destiny and fate, informs not only Wigan's bond with Serai, but his friendship with Chadwick as well. It connects all three's attachment to Rome.