Longing and desire, beauty and death. Where else but in old Venice could one fall in love and be consumed by it like the writer Gustav Aschenbach in Thomas Mann's famous novella? Thomas Mann tells of the "onslaught of passion," of the writer's forbidden love for the beautiful boy Tadzio. But at the same time, he also recounts the outbreak of a pandemic, cholera, from which Aschenbach ultimately dies. From John Neumeier to Luchino Visconti, the novella has inspired very different artists – just as it continually invites us readers to rediscover it.