NOVELIST

- The cathedral in Lipari Town had only just finished completion by the time Nico is taken to see it as a young boy. It was claimed to house the relic of St. Bartholomew's thumb, and there was an annual procession through the town to celebrate the saint and his magical digit.

- The view across the water to Vulcano from Crepazza Point is genuinely stunning, although I chose not to mention the intervening smaller island of Vulcanello that sits between them. Vulcano is best known for its large deposits of pumice and obsidian.

- In the absence of dedicated ferries travelling to or between the Aeolian Islands, anyone wishing to move around on the water would need to arrange lifts or one-off payments with merchants or local fishermen.

- The invasion of Lipari by Barbarossa, and the enslavement and abduction of thousands of local residents, did in fact occur in 1544.

- There were strict rules regarding who could live in or own property within the city gates.

- Major eruptions on Mount Etna occurred in March 1536 (Middle southern flank, strong explosions. Lava flow overwhelmed monastery of St. Leo), and May 1537 (Lava flow travelled for 15km reaching the village of Torre de Grifo near Mascalucia).

- The riots mentioned in Barrafranca occurred in response to the Baresi family deciding to change the name of the original Roman fortification called Calloniana.

- In 1197, the Teutonic Knights received from Henry VI, Emperor of Germany, the Cistercian Monastery in Palermo. They remained there until 1492, on Papal orders based on a request of the King of Spain.

- Ferrante Gonzaga was in fact the Viceroy of Palermo during the years that Nico and Edo were there. In 1535 Gonzaga led armies for Charles V against the Turks in Tunis and again in 1541 in Algiers. Charles V, who resided in Cologne, was the Holy Roman Emperor

- The patron saint of Palermo is indeed Santa Rosalia, whose feast day is celebrated on 15th July. Ulivia de Palermo, a Christian martyr, is also venerated as a local patron saint.  Her feast day is on 10th June, and she is represented as a young woman with olive branches surrounding her, holding a cross in her right hand.

- The population of Agrigento was on a general decline during the medieval period and later. 

- The annual arrival of huge numbers of tuna, and the spectacle of the large annual catch continued for many more centuries after the period in which the book is set. Watch this video, shot in 1949, of how this practice remained largely unchanged and fraught with peril for a further four hundred years.

- The climate on Levanzo, and the Egadi Islands in general, is much drier than that of the Aeolian Islands.

- The walls around Milan that are mentioned in the book were indeed erected by the same man who was  Viceroy of Palermo, Ferrante Gonzaga, who governed Milan from 1546 to 1554.

-  By 1564, Milan boasted 83 confraternities.

- The two battles in which Leandro fought on the Spanish side were the defence of the Spanish garrison of the port of Brill, or Brielle, in the western Netherlands in April 1572, and the Siege of Mons, an attack on another Spanish garrison in the same year. In both cases the Spanish lost.

- The Spanish Inquisition was established in Sicily in 1513.

- The role of Promoter Fiscal, or prosecuting officer, was next in rank to the Inquisitor himself.

- By 1516, Inquisition documents in the 'secreto files' could be accessed by inquisitors, notaries or the fiscal only.

- The Alguazil was an executive officer of each tribunal, and conducted all arrests.

- The role of the Censor existed in every major Inquisition Office. They would pronounce on charges before arrest, and on whether acts or words (written or spoken) might be deemed heresy. 

- Inquisition gaolers often served as torturers, although later the role of torturer was taken on by the pblic executioner.

- Familiars were unpaid, and worked part time only. Often acting as spies on their neighbours, they might be rewarded by immunity from prosecution.

- In the years prior to Nico and Edo arriving in Palermo, the incomes of the Inquisition office in the city had indeed been falling.

-  Purity of blood needed to be demonstrated. This drove much record keeping, and offered a lucrative income to the Inquisition.

- The mechanisms of the Edict of Faith and the associated Auto de Fe were broadly as described. For those arrested, a Term Of Grace might be published, giving the prisoner 40 days to infrm on others. Once men and women were found guilty they were handed over, or 'relaxed' to the municipal authorities for punishment.

- On May 30th, 1541, an Auto de Fe was celebrated in Palermo, in which twenty-two men appeared, nineteen convicted of 'Judaising', and three for Lutheranism. Fra Perruccio Campagna, one of the Luterans, was burned at the stake as an impenitent heretic.

-In Greek mythology, the Three Fates were Clotho (the Spinner), Lachesis (the Measurer/Apportioner), and Atropos (the Unbending/Inflexible one) 

-  Boiardo wrote his Orlando Innamorato in the 1470's, seeing it first printed in Modena in 1483. Thirteen years later, a new edition was published, including the beginning of a third book.

- Ariosto began writing the Orlando Furioso in 1505. It will take him twenty-five years to complete. The first edition of Orlando Furioso was published in Ferrara in 1516. A second slightly revised edition was published in 1521 in Ferrara. His third edition, published in 1532 (just a year before his death) featured six additional cantos. After 1533, a total of five further cantos were pubished, entitled I Cinque Canti.

- In Arab folklore, a nasnas was "half a human being; having half a head, half a body, one arm, one leg, with which it hops with much agility"; the Shadhavar was a mythical creature resembling a unicorn; Zarqa' Al Yamama was the story of a blue-eyed tribal matriarch with the gift of foreseeing the future.

- The modern versions of todays Sicilian puppet theatre originate in the early 19th century, but the origins of the Opera dei Pupi go back to the 15th century. There are no records of puppet theatre performances of the Orlando stories in Sicily in the 16th century, but some performances of Orlando Innamorato in Rome were recorded in 1833. 

- The oldest surviving documents on puppet theatre repertory date from 1845-46. 

- The Commedia, or Commedia Dell'Arte, is an Italian form of theatre that rose to prominence in the 16th century.

- The mystery plays, or sacred plays, of Florence emerged in the mid-1400's, and were based on biblical or other religious texts. Each play was opened and closed by an angel character.