SOUTHERN PASSION

People in the north love to say opera plots are unrealistic—then history shows up with receipts. Composer Leonardo Vinci fell for a noblewoman in Rome, and she for him… until he bragged to friends about the “favors” he’d received.

The gossip reached her, and she hated having private matters turned into public talk. Her revenge was brutally final: poisoned chocolate. Moral: don’t kiss and tell—especially when the other person has access to the kitchen.