Dark secrets lie in the tunnels beneath...Paris, 1298. Disguised as an outlaw, a personage of the highest rank sneaks through the cellars of Notre Dame. The maze of secret tunnels hides a laboratory. Here, occult studies are conducted under the guidance of the renowned scientist, Arnaldo da Villanova. Studies which remain a secret.Rome, 1301. Denounced for impiety by mysterious informers in Paris, Villanova seeks refuge in Italy and becomes Pope Boniface VIII's personal phys...

The Templars and the Shroud of Christ is the second book in this series by Vatican historian, Barbara Frale. The Knights Templar – the most powerful religious-military order of the Middle Ages – almost certainly looked after the mysterious shroud that is now kept in Turin.Worshipped in a relentlessly secret manner, and known in its intimate nature by only a handful of the order’s officials, the swathe of fabric was kept in the central treasury of the Knights Templar, who were known...