The Bronze Crown

"Year 2018: from the icon of the Palace of the Lordship of Jesi the bronze crown to symbolize the royalty of the city, always above the rampant lion, disappears . A new enigma to be solved for the scholar Lucia Balleani who, having finally met the love in the young archaeologist Andrea Franciolini, she has to rediscover with him some unknown aspects of the life of her ancestor Lucia Baldeschi. So let's return, together with our two heroes, back in time to half a millennium, to discover how people lived among the alleys, squares and palaces of a beautiful city in the Marche region, famous in the world, then as now, for being the birthplace of Emperor Frederick the II. ”But neither one of them, looking up over the portal and dwelling on the rampant lion's shrine, could escape a detail, which brought an exclamation to their mouths, almost in unison, as if they were one person: ”The crown!”. Bernardino, the printer, is lying in desperate conditions in a room at Santa Lucia hospital. Cardinal Baldeschi died suddenly and left the city government vacant. Will young Lucia Baldeschi finally take the reins of government and prevent Jesi from falling into the hands of enemies who have always been pressing at his doors? Certainly, one cannot leave the government in the hands of four corrupt nobles or, worse, entrust it to the papal legate sent by the Pope. But Lucia is a woman, and it's not easy to take on roles of power, traditionally handed down to men.