The main characters are Antonio Corelli , an Italian army captain , and Pelagia , the daughter of the local physician , Dr Iannis . An important event in the novel is the massacre of Italian troops by the Germans in September 1943 — the Italian Acqui Division had refused to surrender and had fought the Germans for nine days before running out of ammunition . Some 1,500 Italian soldiers died in the fighting , 5,000 were massacred after surrendering , and the rest were shipped to Germany , of whom 3,000 drowned when the ship carrying them hit a mine
massacre of Italian troops by the Germans
Massacre of the Acqui Division
Captain Corelli's Mandolin