In the fabled Golden Age of Medici rule, Jews in Florence’s tiny Ghetto struggled to earn a living by any possible means—including loan-sharking, rag-picking and second-hand dealing. Shunned as spiritual outlaws, they were also envied and feared as an uncanny people gifted with rare supernatural powers. From their ranks rose Benedetto Blanis, a businessman and aspiring scholar from a distinguished Ghetto dynasty who sought to parlay his mastery of astrology, alchemy and Kabbalah into a grand position at the Medici Court. He won the patronage of Don Giovanni dei Medici, a scion of the reigning family. Then for six tumultuous years, their lives were inextricably linked—until disaster struck.
