Summary

Summer begins and life in Naples slows down. Fans are displayed, and Whitsun, the day on which the blood of San Gennaro is supposed to turn to liquid, is coming. Fortune is thought to rest on this event. A quick liquefaction is a good omen, slow liquefaction an evil one--a catastrophe, in fact. The Whitsun pilgrimage has been vetoed and the people are upset. Lattarullo made much of this, but Lewis wonders if she exists or not. He also wonders whether a man as cosmopolitan as Lattarullo believes that San Gennaro will stop the lava from Vesuvius, or that Padre Pio flies in the sky.

On the 3rd, Lewis notes the "Robin Hood" tradition in the area; many are bandits. One local bandit, Lupo, was released by the allies, and he got into black market practices again. Lupo had to be stopped due to...