Author:
Marcello Simoni
Publisher:
Newton Compton
Date of publication:
02-06-2026
April, 1794. During a violent storm raging across the Garfagnana, the choirmaster of the Cathedral of San Pietro in Castelnuovo is found dead inside a confessional: his hands and feet bound, his forehead marked with a mysterious symbol, his skull opened like a chalice. Investigating the murder are Vitale Federici and his young disciple, Bernardo della Vipera. But the hunt for the killer is not the only mystery demanding their attention: within the cathedral, rumors spread of a heretical manuscript attributed to the poet Ludovico Ariosto, while near a nearby fortress, dark rituals are said to involve a Masonic lodge to which Elisabetta Caminer Turra, a journalist and printer of ambiguous charm, may belong. Amid faith, power, and hidden passions, every clue leads to new revelations. And the closer Vitale and Bernardo come to the truth, the more they realize they are uncovering a mystery far more dangerous than they ever imagined.