For most of the 16th to early 18th centuries the entire northern coast of the Mediterranean was deserted in the conventional sense: having any kind of "normal" township within a few hours' travel from the sea was unthinkable. Places mentioned above as having their population carried off to slavery?"like Ischia, today a densely populated little island of 60,000 people, which in the middle ages had been a vibrant cultural centre of Italy, whose 15th c. duchess was a likely model for the Mona Lisa and her daughter-in-law a muse of Michelangelo?"became empty "brigand country" overnight, and remained so for a good two centuries or more, despite being within sight of Naples.