Put' yunoy Plautilly nachinayetsya v Rime epokhi Karavadzho i Bernini, gde oslepitel'noye barochnoye zoloto sosedstvuyet s nishchetoy uzkikh ulits. V domashney masterskoy, v okruzhenii knig, krasok i chertezhey, otets tayno obuchayet yeye risovaniyu. Derzkaya ideya - stat' arkhitektorom i vozvesti original'nuyu villu na kholme s vidom na gorod - kazhetsya nemyslimoy dlya zhenshchiny XVII veka. No Plautilla Brichchi tak iskusno laviruyet sredi pridvornykh intrig, zagovorov sluzhiteley Vatikana i proiskov khudozhnikov, boryushchikhsya za vygodnyye zakazy, chto obretayet shans osushchestvit' svoyu mechtu.
Melaniya Madzukko, laureat glavnoy ital'yanskoy literaturnoy premii Strega, sozdala masshtabnyy roman o talante i sile dukha, kotoryye pozvolili pervoy zhenshchine-arkhitektoru navsegda vpisat' svoye imya v istoriyu Vechnogo goroda.
