On May 28 1606 in Via di Pallacorda, Michelangelo Merisi—better known as Caravaggio—injured Ranuccio Tomassoni in the leg, severing his femoral vein. Their argument broke out during a game of Pallacorda, a precursor of the game of tennis which was played in the street which today bears the same name. Half an hour later, Ranuccio bled to death in the nearby Via della Scrofa. The game was most probably a pretext for a duel, something that was prohibited in Papal Rome and punishable by ...