‘I did not know that,’ said Ophelia. ‘Do you think it’s possible that a select few people live in the Giardini Vaticani?’ she asked. ‘Like the Garden of Eden in the Book of Genesis?’
Philippe laughed.
‘Not quite,’ he replied. ‘But there are a select few people living under the Basilica di San Pietro and they have an ample supply of desalinated water from the Tyrrhenian Sea. When they feel like surfacing, they enter the garden through the back door of the Basilica, usually when the sun is setting.’
Ophelia imagined what it might look and feel like to be in a garden, surrounded by colorful plants and flowers, while the sun is setting and casting a golden pink light glow across everything.
‘How many people live there?’ she asked.
‘About 1,000,’ Emilie replied.
‘It makes me wonder how ma
