In 1937 his sister Angela died of typhus. To the pain of grief, which had stricken him profoundly, was added the fatigue of the commute to Treviso and the intensification of his studies. Wanting to graduate in the shortest time possible, he had undergone an examination in October of the previous year, comprising all of the junior year subjects. He passed it and started to study Greek in order to pass the entrance examination for "liceo classico" (a high school focused on Classics).