The corpse of Gilberto Pellegrini, a guard in the Museum of the Cathedral of Lucca, is found at the centre of the piazza in a strange position. Michelle Valmont, an expert in symbols immediately recognizes the iconography of the Fool, one of the Major Arcana cards in the Tarot deck. That is how the search begins for the criminal mind behind the violent death of an ordinary man. The case will lead the investigators to the traces of important secrets in the maps of Via Francigena, the Medieval Route of the Faith travelled by northern European pilgrims on their way to Rome, the heart of Christianity. Many personages are involved: a world famous archaeologist and a less famous one, who hopes to make an archaeological find to gain academic success, an eccentric French anthropologist, an astute provincial policeman, a fascinating lawyer, an eminent surgeon and an enigmatic éminence grise who watches all of them, coolly observing the changes of events. An exciting thriller, packed with continual plot turns and mysterious rituals which bring to life the "Dark Ages" and its suffering humanity.