On the marble floor of the Basilica of San Miniato in Florence there is an inscription of 1207, mysterious and variously interpreted. It contains an ancient secret. The historical novel by Renzo Manetti is its history and its key. In the book, the historical facts vividly alternate to Yosefs heroic deeds, to the emotioning love story that will inextricably bind him to Miriam. Fantastic adventures involve the reader thanks to the author capability. Renzo Manetti, born in Florence in 1952, is an architect, writer and scholar of history of architecture, of iconology and symbolism. For nearly two decades, the iconographic and symbolic research has become for him the prevailing research field, with particular attention to the influence of Platonic philosophy and hermetic medieval and Renaissance architecture.