Pilgrim Reindeer in Pisa, 1348 a free multimedia novel by Thomas A. DuBois, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Click here to return to Tom's homepage

Back to chapter Cultural information for this chapter

You can leave a comment or ask a question by emailing me at this address: bavlos.journey@gmail.com I will try to answer promptly and will post any pertinent questions and answers on this page. You can also write directly to Bavlos at: bavlos.johtti@gmail.com, or join his Facebook page. Click here to return to novel homepage

 Part III. Italy. 38. Vernazza and Corniglia. [December 24, 1347] When planning how to get Bávlos to Italy, a dolphin ride seemed like an absolute necessity, since it is so common in Mediterranean folklore. Vernazza is an idyllic tourist town today, but in the medieval past it must have seemed like a very remote fishing village. Remoteness was not a valued quality in the medieval period, where wealth and access to various commodities and services were concentrated in courts and cities. Yet the life of a peasant in Vernazza had to be pretty pleasant then, as it is now. I modelled the priest in this chapter on a jovial priest we met in a small parish in Venice: where priests in the city's large, touristed churches seemed to take little interest in foreigners, this priest eagerly met us and wanted to know where we were from and what had brought us to Italy. I wanted Bávlos to have that kind of friendly entry into the new culture and to get his start on learning Italian from a patient and friendly teacher.