Celestina's Burnings

Italy, 1491. When Celestina DiCapria, at the end of her requisite year-long mourning for her murdered father, hears the bell of Montanina ring not for death but for the youth of Florence to rise up against the plague of witchcraft, she puts aside her dreams of adventure and a hunky to answer the call. The formidable Austrian Friar Thane Brucker and his holy army are Celestina’s path to vengeance on finding the witch who killed her father and left his soul to rot in purgatory. Rinaldo SanGiorgio, a rock cutter from the hills above Florence, yearns to break free from his family’s quarry and paint frescos. When he finds his muse in Celestina, he vows to help with her fight—until the fervent religious mob destroys the art he loves. Rinaldo is torn between saving the Renaissance’s greatest art and his greatest love. But when Celestina is herself accused of witchcraft, Rinaldo realizes flesh and bone are more important than plaster and pigments. Can Celestina and Rinaldo overcome the secrets and lies of a jilted lover, a lustful friar, a powerful monsignor, and an overprotective nonna before Montanina rings for her?