Wounded at the Battle of Lepanto and recoverying in a Messina hospital, Miguel de Cervantes experiences a vision amidst fever and hallucinations. From the flames of burning books, Don Alonso Quijano is born—a man driven mad by tales of chivalry who transforms into the knight-errant Don Quixote. Accompanied by the simple Sancho Panza, lured by the promise of an island to rule, Quixote embarks on a quest where inns become castles and windmills turn into giants. Despite the cruel mockery of bored nobles and a series of crushing defeats, his madness reveals a disarming purity: he fights solely for justice and freedom, even as the world laughs. Betrayed and humiliated, he is eventually brought home in a cage, unable to survive without his ideals. As he dies, the scene shifts back to the Sicilian night: from the pain of war, Cervantes has forged a masterpiece—the stubborn dream of a more liberated humanity.
Marcello Fonte
