The Domain of Time

Rome, 1574. At his brother Luigi’s bedside, Antonio urges him to recover, so as to attend the planned meeting with Pope Gregory XIII and demonstrate his life’s work in person. Luigi, aware that his end is near, makes his brother swear to support their reform: his last will. In an imaginary dialogue with his brother, Antonio’s memory runs back to his childhood, to the nights spent at Cirò speculating on the motion of the planets. Antonio is the youngest and Luigi is like a beacon to him. The two will continue a dialogue in epistolary form, as if mentally connected beyond time and space. Luigi is in an indefinite space, prisoner of his own thoughts, conjecturing about time. As a talented mathematician, he’s convinced that time is a physical and measurable entity: his mission is to give mankind the tool to dominate time and seasons.

Pope Gregory XIII, in Conclave with the most faithful bishops, nervously illustrates his fears in a theological-political confrontation on the risks the Christian world is facing and the shaky hegemony of the papacy. We are in the midst of a revolution leading to a fracture in Christianity, the papacy needs a reform to confirm its supremacy; the fallacy of the current calendar is threatening the dogmatic truth of the sacred texts: the determination of Easter established at the Council of Nicaea in 325 is slipping forward, undermining the truth of the Church and the authority of the Pope.

Luigi dialogues with Antonio remembering the discussions with his friend Cardinal Sirleto, on the problem of Easter – set on the first Sunday after the full moon following the spring equinox. The solar year adopted was too long, and over the centuries ten days too many were accumulated. The reform had been in the air for decades but no one could reconcile scientific truths with Church dogma. Bishops were in competition, astronomers and mathematicians from all over the world challenged each other with the most diverse theories, but Luigi’s project was the only truly promising one, promoted in fact by his friend Sirleto and Cardinal Cervini. The Pope had been persuaded and a pontifical commission was called for. It’s 1575, Luigi has been dead for a year. Antonio is officially invited to show Luigi’s proposal. The dispute between the parties is heated, but in the end, only the theory of the two brothers seems to reconcile science with the demands of the Church.

The greatest threat comes from the commission presidency, entrusted to Bishop Tommaso Gigli who, apparently favourable to Luigi’s cause, hides a devious intent, of an ambition greater than faith: with a stratagem, he insinuates a doubt over the proposal in order to appropriate the manuscript, copy it and tamper with it to advance his own proposal. Gigli enlists the help of Carlo Ottavio Lauro, a judicial astronomer, a slippery figure known to Sirleto: years earlier Luigi had defended himself against Lauro’s attempt to steal his ideas. Again the brothers converse mentally but Antonio is more fragile, the situation is wearing him down; Luigi strongly believes Lauro is incapable of fully understanding his work.
Months pass. Antonio and his followers plan an offensive against Bishop Gigli to get the manuscript back – but the Bishop is powerful, difficult to counteract.
Finally Antonio discovers the bishop’s plan and along with his friend Sirleto, asks for a meeting with the Pope. The Bishop has no idea of Antonio’s counter-offensive and that the Pope is informed too: he presents the plagiarized proposal. Lauro proves to be mediocre, the proposal doesn’t hold up; the Pope indignant relieves the Bishop as chairman of the commission, but the Bishop is powerful and the Pope is forced to disguise the punishment as a promotion, by transferring him to Piacenza. Hunted down by the papal guards, Lauro flees Rome with the manuscript. The new commission chaired by Sirleto promotes Luigi’s proposal; Antonio will have to help the Spanish theologian Pedro Chacón to draw up a Compendium of the lost manuscript to show the Pope.
Again Luigi guides his brother: the two move in unison, Luigi’s in his own world while Antonio is with the Pope. Like an orchestra conductor, through Antonio, Luigi explains how to fix the civil calendar. Ten days must be eliminated, after which the calculation can be updated by adopting a system of leap years: the date of Easter will be correct for eternity.

Meanwhile, Lauro lives in hiding, obsessed by the manuscript and its truth. He cannot bear to be unmasked and craves revenge with Bishop Gigli.
The Pope spreads the text of the reform in the Christian world gathering consensus.
Everything seems to be solved, but it falls apart again: Pope Gregory XIII summons Antonio to offer a choice of payment for his work: to obtain a huge sum by renouncing the printing rights of the calendar or to have the right to print it exclusively for ten years.
Antonio is conflicted, the sum is enormous but the printing rights can profit much more. The comfort of his brother’s voice seems to have disappeared. He decides for the printing rights; the Pope needs to deliver the calendar in the shortest time, Antonio takes the risk of such a huge endeavour.

Bishop Gigli is informed of the agreement between Antonio and the Pope. He is ready for revenge and organizes a revolt, convincing the citizens that the reform will deprive them of ten days’ wages, and sends Lauro to boycott Antonio’s enterprise.
Antonio had to deliver a million copies in less than three months, an impossible task. With the help of the capital’s printers, he organized everything, asking the Pope for financial help. A large load of paper is blocked in port by Lauro’s subterfuge.
Suspicious of the unforeseen events that Antonio is facing, Cardinal Sirleto comes to his aid and the cargo proceeds to the printers in the capital secretly escorted by his guards. Sirleto wants to unmask the Bishop and his henchman Lauro.
The news of the unblocked cargo at the port reaches Lauro: in a fit of rage he has the coach attacked, simulating an act of brigandage: the Cardinal’s men get the better of him. Lauro is mortally wounded and his body is never to be found, like Luigi’s manuscript, which remains in Lauro’s hiding place and is forgotten.The paper arrives at its destination; the Cardinal, with his friends, rescues Antonio. The bishop will not be unmasked.
The manuscript will be lost with the memory of Luigi, who will disappear from history along with it.