ABSTRACT
Within the narrow alley that emerges in front of the Monastery ofSanta Chiara you’ll find the Courtyard of the Seven Fairies. Peoplesay that seven enchanted fairies266 used to come to this courtyard at night, each being more beautiful than the next. They would take away men or women whom they favored and show them marvelous things never seen before: music, balls, banquets, and other such wonders. They say that the fairies also carried them far away over the sea, and let them walk on water without getting their feet wet. They would come and perform such wonders every night, and then the next morning they would vanish, and no one would say a word about it.
