On the outward journey I drove, as badly as any drunk, now pressing too hard on the accelerator, now mindlessly slowing down, while she, a little amused a little concerned, told me to watch the road; as we drifted away from the known world, into the surreal landscape of the Crete Senesi, my intoxication grew: I caressed with my gaze the half-tones of those whitish lands drawn by the comb furrows of the plows, the undulating backs of the hills surmounted by small patches of cypress trees like crests of sleeping blond dinosaurs. 
At a fork in the road, I accidentally took a side road that climbed up the hills and got lost in oak and chestnut forests. I love getting lost, and I cannot imagine a more blissful experience than getting lost with her. We took a wrong turn, I told her, I don't know where we are going; she leaned her head on my shoulder and said smilingly go ahead, we will get somewhere. They were the words I had hoped with all my heart to hear from someone, literally the password from which I would recognize the woman of my life. In that moment I loved her with absolute love. As we proceeded at random I felt that I was so happy that I was sick. That was the answer, that was the meaning of life: to go on like that with her without knowing where. Things have changed a lot since then, but to this day I still think that if only it were possible for me to kidnap her and lose our tracks, I would travel with her into nothingness until I died, without feeling the slightest regret for anything else. That knowledge terrified me: I knew that if I made the slightest mistake it would be the end of everything. My heart was beating wildly.
Suddenly I pulled over and stopped in a small clearing between two huge cork oaks; at that moment the car stereo was playing Vivaldi: I had chosen an all-classical soundtrack for that unforgettable trip. I needed fuel, I told her; she objected that the tank was almost full, then understood and smiled. I kissed her nonstop throughout the first movement of the Stabat Mater.
We arrived at our destination that it was already dark.