[1][2][3] The stories are: In the Venetian Lagoon, San Francesco del Deserto is an island that is home to a Franciscan monastery.

Thus, a monk advises Corto to go to the Venetian Ghetto to meet Melchisedech the rabbi, who owns a diary describing all seven cities.

The responsible party is seemingly a strange paralysed woman living in a Venetian palace, nicknamed "The Angel in the Window to the Orient".

Inside, the sailor discovers that the "paralytic woman" is in fact Venexiana Stevenson, his old enemy from Honduras (cf.

To document this story, Hugo Pratt explains that he drew information from the books of a missionary institute in Verona (Veneto, Italy), the Comboni.

Scarso, the man who serves the sole (the "sfogio") really existed and worked in Malamocco (village of the Lido where the comics creator has a house).

The fallen monarchy of Montenegro hid its royal gold at Sette Casoni (Valcasoni [it]), in the middle of the Italian front.

Lieutenant Radesky, an Austrian, secretly watches the operation on board an observation balloon and diverts the attention of his compatriots from the city.

Finally, the fortune is loaded onto a Greek gunboat commanded by Onatis (evoking Aristotle Onassis), where Corto is waiting at the end of the operation.

[4] In October 1917, enriched by the Montenegrin gold, Corto Maltese helps Sinn Féin to fight against the British Army.

In Dublin, Corto meets the deceased's wife, Moira "Banshee" O’Danann, who wants to avenge her husband.

This unusual title speaks of Ireland and its struggle for freedom: To build this story, Pratt relied on documents and testimonies.

In more recent history, this word has been used for the name Fianna Éireann, an Irish nationalist youth organisation founded in 1909.

[4] Stonehenge, a legendary place in Wiltshire, England, 21 December 1917; during the winter solstice, many creatures from Celtic mythology are meeting to discuss a dramatic event.

And with them will come characters from Germanic mythology, who could threaten their prominence, exactly as they did during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain (contemporary to the Arthurian cycle).

The sailor discovers Major Vortigern Welsh, of the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry and member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The Welsh, who is dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, warns him against his wife Rowena, a German spy, who has caused his misfortunes.

At Tintagel, Rowena commands a German U-boat to attack the castle, while a British corvette lies at anchor.

As the title suggests, this story clearly alludes to A Midsummer Night's Dream, a famous comedy written by William Shakespeare in 1595/96.

In this story, Oberon evokes Huon of Bordeaux, a chanson de geste where he is also present and is shown as the child of Morgan le Fay and Julius Caesar.

Thus, the British Major Vortigern Welsh is manipulated by his German wife Rowena, who plans to attack England with her brothers Hengist and Horsa.

Its occupant was a Canadian named Julius César (like the famous Roman conqueror, Oberon's father in some stories), who had died in a battle against Germany in 1918.

The Red Baron (Manfred von Richthofen), a German, has successfully shot down numerous enemy planes in his Fokker Dr.I.

Yet, a short time later, Manfred von Richthofen crashed; soldiers strip him and claim responsibility for the exploit.

For example, he mentions the glorious track record of this flying ace, officially credited with 80 air combat victories.

Other authentic elements include his custom of cutting the empennage of the planes he shot down, to make trophies, as well as that his aunt Frieda von Richthofen married the British novelist D. H. Lawrence.

[4] Again in France, between the cities of Zuydcoote and Bray-Dunes (Nord department), a show is performed in a Royal Air Force base by the puppeteer Rico-Rico and the singer Mélodie Gaël.

Shortly after, Corto Maltese is talking with his friend Cain Groovesnore, who announces that his American cousin Pandora is going to marry.

[4] Hugo Pratt has produced numerous additional drawings of the characters and places relating to the stories in this album, as he did with other episodes of the series.

[8] Twenty years after the death of Hugo Pratt, his ex-assistant Lele Vianello [it], another Italian comic book creator, gave him a tribute album.