A glance at Dante Zeno’s archives reveals numerous traces of his fatherly attention to his family members – with whom, even in the most businesslike correspondence, he never lacked a gentle touch and attention to the fabric of everyday life – but also to his employees and their loved ones. This attention was often reciprocated with gratitude, as evidenced by the short letters in which Elena and Luigino, probably the children of employees, thanked him for the gifts he had given them.

What happens when the very young and already quite resourceful Alessandro, who “bargains” with his grandfather for the gift of a pocket diary, a “Fiat notebook”? Here, we discover an early vocation for bargaining and argumentation on the part of the future lawyer, who, with clarifying drawings and alternating peremptory tones with more persuasive attempts, instructs his grandfather to choose another pocket diary – he can have as many as he wants! – and to give him his, which is such a nice one!

A decisive and precise action that does not leave out any strategy, not even an attempt to form an alliance with his grandmother… But will Dante Zeno finally give his grandson the diary? Has the object of his desire finally been obtained? Has the object of his desire finally been obtained?

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