The skin of the hero was given as a gift to the Sultan.
This was the code of barbarity.
And it would stay for years in Constantinople but not for centuries.
Secret Agreement.
Because he hadn’t accepted the injustice.
Hit team.
History would continue even after the battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571.
Because in 1580, Girolamo Polidori stole it from the Ottomans and returned it to Venice, where they welcomed him as a hero.
The skin of Marco Antonio Bergadin was maintained initially in the San Gregono church and then buried with proper honors in the Basilica di San Giovanni e Paolo.
Under the gaze of the Master.
Because death on August 17, 1571 was not sufficient for his dignity.
That day however, on October 7, he was only thinking to keep the promise he had given to the Governor of Cyprus.
The Holy League and its powerful fleet was ready in Lepando.
His goal was one and only.
The destruction of the ottoman fleet.
Because it was the only way to liberate the occupied territories.
So without mercy, all those had gathered who had fought against the barbarity in the past.
They wanted only one thing and nothing less.
He designed then the victory of the Europeans.
Chivalry and Christendom in the spirit of Hellenism.
So more than two hundred ships of the Holy League sank over one hundred ottoman ships and captured one hundred and fifty.
Not a single ship was left free.
On that day barbarity sank.
And the crescent ceased to dominate.
After the rain the sun appeared lifted by eight thousand dead who did not forget the sufferings and the tortures of Cyprus but also the example of the heroic resistance of Famagusta.
So the promise was fulfilled.
And when he saw it with his eyes he wept only of joy.
Because liberty had defeated death.