Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden, the German photographer noted for his studies of male nudes in classical settings, died in Taormina, Sicily, in 1931. He willed his photographic plate to his principal model Pancrazio Bucini. In 1936, as the result of an anonymous denunciation, Bucini was arrested by Fascist authorities on the charge of "keeping pornography." Incident at Taormina is an attempt to deal with the legal proceeding that followed.