"The interconnecting journeys of Adria Bernardi's characters begin in a remote sixteenth-century Apennine village, continuing through terrains of both privilege and privation to the Tuscan plains, and on to the household of the artist Titian. Their stories explore a range of responses by several classes of citizens dealing with similar life-and-death issues. Bernardi's attention to detail, such as the exact method of preparing ultramarine pigment, is seductive and lovely - one believes in the characters and in their stories."--BOOK JACKET.