Valenzia Candiano: Racconto

A late-night meeting of Venice's secretive council unspools debates over wartime expense, naval losses and a mysterious sheet discovered in a lion's throat that appears to accuse the famed admiral Candiano. Senators quarrel over blame, pensions, and the fallout from a fatal incident involving a patrician family, exposing rivalries and icy ironies among the ruling elite. Richly described Venetian nocturnal scenes frame procedural readings and sentences, while a fraught exchange between Candiano and his subordinate Fossano leaves Fossano unsettled; he departs that night for Padua, triggering subsequent inquiries into honor, power, and rumor.