By writing what he called a "e;secret book"e; - taking the shape of a conversation between himself and St Augustine - Petrarch aimed to compose a cathartic text which would alleviate his spiritual crisis and help him make further inroads towards knowledge and fulfilment.At once an intimate repository of his most personal thoughts and emotions and a literary masterpiece dealing with universal issues, Secretum - Petrarch's best-known work in Latin - is a fascinating and pioneering example of the autobiographical genre.

A papal conspiracy is revealed in the midst of a plague in this Italian historical thriller that sparked controversy with the Vatican. Rome, 1683. The citizens anxiously await new of the battle for Vienna as Ottoman forces lay siege to the defenders of Catholic Europe. Meanwhile, a suspected outbreak of plague causes a famous Roman tavern to be placed under quarantine. One of its detainees, Atto Melani, a spy in the service of France, discovers a secret passage leading deep into the Roman underworld. But what he uncovers there is even more astonishing: a plot to assassinate Pope Innocent XI and plans to use the plague as a weapon of mass destruction against the Islamic world. Meticulously researched and brilliantly conceived, Imprimatur is based on startling historical revelations that have been concealed for centuries, drawing on original papers discovered in the Vatican archives. A thriller in the vein of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, this novel sheds new light on the power struggles of 17th-century Europe. First published to great controversy in Italy in 2002, Imprimatur was boycotted by the Italian press before being translated into 20 languages with editions published in 45 countries.

A trilogy of dialogues in Latin written by Petrarch sometime from 1347 to 1353, in which he examines his faith with the help of Saint Augustine, and "in the presence of The Lady Truth".

July, 1700, Rome. Atto Melani - once a celebrated castrato soprano, now a spy in the service of King Louis XIV, the Sun King - mingles with other high-ranking guests at the villa of Cardinal Spada. Despite being there to celebrate the Cardinal's nephew's wedding, the main topic of conversation is the grave illness of the Pope and the approaching demise of Charles II, King of Spain. Charles has no heir and Kaiser Leopold of Austria and King Louis are each demanding the throne, with the Vatican supposedly mediating. Keen to promote his master's cause, Melani sets in motion a grandiose conspiracy that will plunge him into a world of secret languages, religious sects, forged Royal wills and Europe into war.

This book examines how secret knowledge was represented visually in ways that both revealed and concealed the true nature of that knowledge, giving and yet impeding access to it.

Welcome to probably the longest-running bestselling self-help book in known history. The Secret of Secrets was one of the most widely-read texts of the High Middle Ages. Medieval readers took the ascription to Aristotle as authentic and treated this work among Aristotle's genuine works. It was on the medieval "best-seller" list for hundreds of years. Copland's text has been interpreted with more modern American English, keeping the format true to their Middle English grammar and phrasing in order to preserve the original meaning as much as possible. Primarily, I've worked to keep this text to simple word-substitution. This book is being published as a beta version in order to add to our knowledge, not as a final and authoritative work. You will find your self living and understanding the regal life of the Middle Ages, a time before modern chemistry, but not before physicians (or even lawyers). Get Your Copy Now.

Petrarch was the leading spirit in the Renaissance movement to revive literary Latin, the language of the Roman Empire, and Greco-Roman culture in general. My Secret Book reveals a remarkable self-awareness as he probes and evaluates the springs of his own morally dubious addictions to fame and love.