Livia x Ricciardi

Livia x Ricciardi is the het between Livia Lucani and Luigi Alfredo Ricciardi from the Inspector Ricciardi fandom.

Love at first sight
Livia and Ricciardi meet in the worst possible circumstance: the murder of Arnaldo Vezzi, Livia's husband, a murder that Ricciardi must investigate as police commissioner. Their first meeting takes place right at the police station, where Livia is interrogated by Ricciardi, despite not being a suspect since when her husband was killed she was at home in Rome and he was on tour in Naples, the city where Ricciardi works.

Arnaldo was a horrible man who had blamed Livia for the death of their son which was actually due to an illness and who constantly cheated on her, and Livia no longer loved him. The woman immediately feels attracted to the commissioner and during their meetings she tries to make him understand that she would like to talk to him about something other than Arnaldo's murder, but Ricciardi does not attempt to flirt with her in the slightest, nor does he seem to understand her interest in him, despite Livia being a beautiful woman. Ricciardi ignores Livia (and women in general) for a reason: he is able to perceive the spirits of those who die a violent death by seeing and hearing them the last thing they saw or thought before dying. This power of his has completely alienated him from normal life even if it sometimes helped him in his work and since he inherited this ability from his mother, he is determined never to marry and never have children because he does not want to condemn anyone to live among the dead as he does (Ricciardi and Livia live in the 1930s, violent death was much more common than now and the "echoes" of dead people remain even for months, so Ricciardi is continually surrounded by ghosts). Sometimes Ricciardi thinks he is crazy and is so firm in his decision that despite feeling attracted to his neighbor Enrica Colombo he has never tried to establish contact with her. Obviously he has never confessed this to anyone, but Livia understands that he has something that makes him suffer.

Livia decides to stay in the city until the investigations are completed and remains obsessed with the thought of Ricciardi the entire time. After a few days Ricciardi goes to Livia in the hotel and tells her that he has discovered the murderer's motive: it was a girl who killed Arnaldo that he got pregnant and who he had told her that he didn't care about her and their child and her boyfriend. he took the blame for the girl.

Not wanting to see two young lives ruined because of a degenerate like Vezzi, nor for the child to grow up in poverty, Ricciardi proposes to her boyfriend to declare that the child is his and that Vezzi had attempted to rape the woman, so he will obtain the extenuating circumstances and the girl will not have her reputation ruined and she will not lose her job. To make the story credible it is necessary for Livia to testify and publicly declare that Arnaldo was capable of behaving like this. Livia, who was very happy and excited by the policeman's arrival, comments that this would make her look like someone who accuses someone who can no longer defend himself, but in the end she convinces herself to do it for the unborn child and for Ricciardi. Livia then asks Ricciardi about his hopes for the future and to share with her an indirect request for a relationship, but he replies that she is beautiful, young and rich and that she has every right to start a new life, but that for him this is not the time.

Once the trial is over, Livia returns to Rome where she lives, but can't stop thinking about Ricciardi; the latter instead returns to his usual life without dedicating a single thought to the widow.

Courtship
Livia ultimately decides to move to Naples to win over Ricciardi. Even though she is one of the most loved and envied women in the capital, and she is a close friend of the Duce's daughter, she decides to give up everything about herself for the possibility of a love story with him, a sign of how deeply the commissioner fascinated her. So after a few months, Livia, after having carefully prepared herself, lurks at Gambrinus, a bar regularly frequented by Ricciardi; the man is surprised and when he asks her what she is doing there she replies sincerely that she came back to town because she wanted to see him again.

Ricciardi tries to leave because he has to follow another murder case, but Livia stops him, wanting at least them to decide how and when to see each other again. To make the situation worse, Enrica is also at Gambrinus and this makes Ricciardi even more uncomfortable. Although he wants to leave immediately, he doesn't want to be rude to Livia. The latter immediately asks him to accompany her to dinner or to the theater, even if Ricciardi doesn't pay much attention to her due to Enrica's presence. Ricciardi is saved by one of his subordinates, Brigadier Maione, who comes to take him back to the police station, but before he leaves Livia kisses him on the cheek. Livia later tells herself that she had an acceptable result and decides to show up at the police station in the evening when Ricciardi finishes his shift, demanding to be taken out, confident in the power of her beauty. Livia ends up waiting for Ricciardi to return for more than two hours and in the end he agrees to go to dinner with her. He then discovers that he feels good in the woman's company, even if he continues to think of Enrica. Livia senses that the commissioner likes her, but also that he is thinking of someone. When he takes her back to the hotel, the woman touches his lips with a kiss, but he doesn't reciprocate.

After a few days, Livia returns to the police station and Ricciardi, who suspects that a woman was killed out of jealousy, takes advantage of her presence to ask her what she would do if she were in love and jealous. Livia gets emotional thinking that he is talking about the two of them, but in the end Ricciardi tells her that she has been useful to him and begs her to leave, saying that he has to work. Livia agrees and leaves, saying however that he won't get rid of her so easily. She later returns to the police station, missing Ricciardi, but her superior Garzo tells her that the commissioner has solved the case and she declares that she considers him a hero. Later she lurks again at Gambrinus and when she sees him pass by she calls him and he sits with her for a while. Livia tells Ricciardi that she has decided to move to Naples and he tries to make her change her mind which hurts her even though she tries not to show it and tells Ricciardi that to make her go away he just has to tell her that he has a woman. Ricciardi considers lying, but he's not sure he wants Livia to disappear from his life even though in all honesty he can't say he has a free heart, so he tells her the truth: that he's thinking about a woman, but that she doesn't know it. Livia, who was terrified at the idea of an affirmative answer, is nevertheless thrown down at the idea that Ricciardi feels attracted to another woman, but she declares that she will fight to win him over.

Ricciardi eventually helps Livia find a home and she continues with her brazen courtship, despite Ricciardi appearing disinterested. In fact he feels physically attracted to the widow and even begins to grow fond of her, but nothing more.

Shortly before the Day of the Dead, the body of a child is found; Ricciardi does not see the ghost and therefore deduces that the little boy's body has been moved and that therefore it is not an accident, but a murder. However, deputy commissioner Garzo sees it as an accident and since Mussolini is about to visit Naples, he wants to give the idea that everything is perfect in the city and therefore forbids the commissioner from investigating. Ricciardi then asks to be able to take advantage of some holidays to investigate on his behalf. Garzo understands the trick and would like to deny them to her, so Ricciardi invents that Livia wants her help in organizing a reception. Garzo believes it and gives him holidays in exchange for an invitation. Luckily Livia goes to see him at that moment and plays along, even though she doesn't know why he lied.

Shortly afterwards Livia asks Falco (an agent of the OVRA the fascist secret police who has been given the task of keeping an eye on her) to find her some information on Ricciardi since she wants to know more about him. Falco does so and so the next day Livia discovers with surprise that Ricciardi is a baron and that he owns a real fortune in real estate and agricultural land and also that he doesn't date any woman apart from her and that there are no reasons to suspect him of homosexuality. Livia is happy that Ricciardi evidently has no contact with her mysterious rival and decides to invite him to the reception she had actually decided to throw. Caught up in his private investigation, Ricciardi never shows up to Livia again and she goes to look for him at the police station. What she discovered about him fascinated her even more, because made her understand that Ricciardi is only interested in his personal values. Obviously, however, Ricciardi is not in the office and Livia worries, fearing that he is getting into some trouble.

Fanon
Livia x Ricciardi is a fairly popular ship also because it was part of the pivotal love triangle of almost the entire series. It is the rival of Enrica x Ricciardi and Bianca x Ricciardi.

Many fans did not appreciate Enrica's character very much, considering her dull, and hoped that the commissioner would choose Livia. After Enrica's death, fans hoped that the two could end up together in the end.

On AO3, there is currently only one fanfic tagged under their platonic relationship tag.

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