| Florence, July 1576: Ascanio Ricciardi, a youthful but unambicious knight], meets with Francisco I de? Medici, Grand Duque of Tuscany, who assigns him the task of investigating the circumstances surrounding the sudden death of his sister-in-law, Princess Dianora de? Medici.
Ricciardi soon realizes that her death is the result of a murderous plot and that the Grand Duque has set a trap for him.
To avoid further complications and save his friendship with the beautiful Isabella de? Medici, sister of the Grand Duque, he resigns himself to officially confirming that the death of the princess was due to natural causes. Far from relieving him from further involvement however, Ricciardi?s problems have just begun. In order to celebrate the visit of the viceroy of Naples to Florence, the Grand Duque organizes a great banquet.
During the course of the evening, Isabel becomes fascinated with the charms of an elegant Spanish musician, Antonio de Cordoba, and asks Ricciardi to arrange a secret meeting with the musician.
Ricciardi, who is now the unwilling lovers? go-between, see?s himself getting involved in an ever more complicated plot. High ranking members of the royal court compete amongst themselves to win the favour of Princess Isabel and the power that will be bestowed on them with this ultimate prize.
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