I dreamt of Venice all night, but I never saw it in my dreams. Actually, the name of one of its districts, or sestieri in Italian, kept coming back all night long: Dorsoduro. This is the area across the Giudecca island that I know pretty well. First I saw two men of about fifty who were from Dorsoduro. They were identical twins. They kept staring at me without a word. Then I saw a woman in her twenties also from Dorsoduro. She ran toward me in mock anger, and then she laughed and laughed right in front of me. She reminded me of my beloved. I also remember one of the twins returning in another dream and laughing in front of me. But the name of the district ricocheted through my mind as though it itself was somehow important. It means “hard back” in Italian, as the district is the highest in Venice, as well as endowed with the most stable terrain. The name was supposed to give me strength, I guess. Dorsoduro, Dorsoduro, Dorsoduro…