The characters in the opera The Visitors are escaping the Black Death by sheltering in a villa outside what city
The Decameron The Decameron (Italian: "Decameron" ] or "Decamerone" ] ), subtitled "Prince Galehaut" (Old Italian: "Prencipe Galeotto" ] ), is a collection of novellas by the 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375). The book is structured as a frame story containing 100 tales told by a group of seven young women and three young men sheltering in a secluded villa just outside Florence to escape the Black Death, which was afflicting the city. Boccaccio probably conceived the "Decameron" after the epidemic of 1348, and completed it by 1353. The various tales of love in "The Decameron" range from the erotic to the tragic. Tales of wit, practical jokes, and life lessons contribute to the mosaic. In addition to its literary value and widespread influence (for example on Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales"), it provides a document of life at the time. Written in the vernacular of the Florentine language, it is considered a masterpiece of classical early Italian prose.
August Heat A grueling, relentless sun is the background to this episode: and the most fiery heat of this hottest summer month in Sicily is paralleled by the fervour and passion that inflames Montalbano. It's August, his deputy Mimì Augello had to anticipate his holidays, and Montalbano is forced to remain at Vigata, taking care of police business. Fiancée Livia would join him, but not to be alone with Montalbano's always working, she brings along a friend (with husband and baby) and asks Salvo to rent a beach house for them. All is well as the holiday develops nicely, but one day the couple's little boy disappears. Montalbano rushes into the garden to help in the search and discovers a tunnel that will reveal sensational surprises, including a trunk with the body of a missing girl who disappeared six years before.