“The Venetian merchant vassel Querina departs in 1431 from Crete under the command of Pietro Querini with 68 crewmen.
The Querina is bound for Flanders but never reaches her destination. Doubling Cape Finisterre it is pushed north by headwinds. Then the storm begins its work of destruction. It breaks the rudder rips the sails. The vassel shatters under the attacks of the sea.
Until one begins to die. A few endure it all and land nine months after departure on a small island in Norway’s Lofoten. Here they stay for a month until reduced to eleven they are miraculously rescued by some fishermen.
On their return to Venice Pietro Querini Nicolò de Michiele and Cristofalo Fioravante deliver to posterity the story of their adventure: the adverse fate the sufferings but also the amazement in front of a lifestyle that of the inhabitants of the Lofoten far from the corruptions of civilization And then the discovery of stockfish a specialty that it will be Querini himself-so tradition dictates-who will deliver to Venetian gastronomy.
A chronicle that preserves intact the original charm and thanks to a valuable rewriting work re-proposes to today’s readers a great sea story.”
