In The Law According to Lidia Poët, when Lidia moves into her brother’s house, she meets Jacopo, her sister-in-law’s brother, who accompanies Lidia on a number of adventures. Jacopo is played by Eduardo Scarpetta.
When Lidia comes to live with Enrico and his family, she finds out that Enrico’s wife, Teresa, has a brother named Jacopo who is also staying with them. Jacopo is a journalist and works for the Gazette.
Unlike most men that Lidia encounters, Jacopo does not underestimate Lidia. Instead, he treats her like an equal, someone who is capable of looking after herself and making independent choices.
He even writes a piece about Lidia as the first female lawyer of Italy in the paper. The piece infuriates her, but it also makes her famous.
Jacopo and Lidia’s adventures
When Lidia goes to the ballet to catch the killer of Adele red-handed, Enrico asks Jacopo to accompany her as he goes to fetch the judge. Lidia is able to lure out the killer by lying to Jacopo to get him to print false news about fingerprint testing being used in the case.
As expected, the killer reveals himself and gets angry at being fooled, but Jacopo stands next to her when she faces the killer’s outrage.
For her next case, Jacopo offers to take Lidia along with him to De Santis’ factory and parades her around as a journalist, which allows her to conduct her investigation. He even takes her to a gathering of libertines, where Lidia gets to smoke opium for the first time.
The two then break into Elena’s office at night to find more clues regarding the identity of her murderer. This is not the only instance when Jacopo goes along with Lidia’s plans and breaks into a house. He not only takes her to Vittorio’s house whenever the need arises but also breaks in with her to help her gather clues.
Jacopo and Lidia attend Miss Sangiacomo’s trial together, and later, he even helps her find old newspapers to learn more about Miss Sangiacomo’s past, which is how she discovers the experiments that were conducted on sex workers, including Miss Sangiacomo’s mother.
Jacopo’s relationship with Lidia
Marianna, Andrea, and even Jacopo imply that Lidia is falling in love with Jacopo, but she never admits it. However, as the story progresses, it becomes clear that she has feelings for Jacopo.
Marianna thinks that Lidia is interested in her uncle, so she tells Lidia that Jacopo lived in Paris for 10 years and fell in love with a woman named Nicole. Their relationship ended when she died.
When Jacopo does not show up to have dinner with Lidia, as he had promised, it upsets her, but he gifts her a typewriter to make up for it. Similarly, when Jacopo sees Lidia with Andrea, he is not completely unaffected.
Jacopo kisses Lidia when the two are fleeing from a security guard, which contributes to the growing tension between them. Later, Jacopo offers to help her with her appeal, and the two sleep together.
However, things are still not smooth between them, as Lidia calls herself one of his lovers, and he does not correct her. In fact, when she asks him about the woman she saw him kissing, he calls the woman one of his many lovers, which prompts Lidia to ask him to leave.
Their relationship gets worse when Lidia confronts him about burying guns in her brother’s garden, and Jacopo accuses her of inventing things that do not exist because she is lonely. This hurts and infuriates her, causing her to stop speaking to him altogether.
Later, Jacopo apologizes for his behavior. He considers her to be the most incredible person he has met, and since he does not want to keep secrets from her, he tells her about the woman she saw with him — it was Nicole, the woman he loved more than anyone.
He lied about Nicole’s death because he did not want to think about her anymore. Even though he gives Lidia an explanation regarding the guns, it is not the whole truth. The two share a kiss and seem happy, but their happiness is lost minutes later when Jacopo is arrested for Maya’s murder.
Jacopo’s links to the French anarchists
While investigating Maya’s murder, Lidia finds out from General Valery that Jacopo has been involved in suspicious activities. He was a member of the anarchists when he was in Paris, and he recently met with an anarchist activist in Turin to get two transit documents forged.
Maya was not a sex worker; she was a spy named Giorgia who was working for General Valery. She was keeping an eye on Jacopo’s movements. Jacopo denies killing her but finally comes clean about his past.
He joined the anarchists in Paris because he was in love with Nicole. When Nicole fell in love with Louis, the leader of an anarchist group that preached a violent revolution, and left with him, Jacopo moved back to Turin.
Nicole and Louis were then arrested, but they managed to escape. They came to Turin to hide, and Nicole asked Jacopo to help them find a safe passage to Uruguay. Jacopo agreed; he got them two visas and sold their guns to get them the money they needed.
While Lidia is angry that he lied to her again, she still risks everything to prove his innocence. She gets Nicole to confess to Maya’s murder, and Jacopo gets to be a free man. He thanks her and supports her even when she decides to move to New York.
Also Read: The Law According to Lidia Poët ending explained: Does Lidia leave Turin?
