The Snake That Sought Revenge

"'Mamma's been bitten by a snake!' I yelled out. The village women who had come out after siesta to knit on their front steps stared after me as I ran; others popped their heads out of doorways and over balconies." pg 9

This passage within "Lives of the Saints" by Nino Ricci discloses the predominant occurrence in the beginning of the novel that contours the rest of the plot. Incipiently, seven-year-old Vittorio Innocente proclaims to the village people that his mother Christina Innocente has been bitten by a snake. Valle De Sole, the village where the story takes places, is a village that is morphed by its superstitions and religion. The snake symbolizes both evil and temptation. Subsequently to the snake bite, Christina is cursed. She acts abnormally. Her proud nature disallows her to compromise with her family and she winds up alienating herself from society. Most importantly, she was also with her lover at the time of the bite. An Italian myth proclaims that if you are bitten at the time of an affair; you will birth a child with a head of a snake. From this point on in the novel, Christina's stubborn habits perturb her son Vito traumatically.