The images you'll see as you scroll down to the current text are all part of the story telling in my novel, Realms of Gold:Ritual to Romance.


Bianca Caldwell, pen name, Bianca Fiore, is a writer for an art magazine. In each of her monthly stories she describes an object used in ancient ritual.

Artù. King Arthur. From The Tree of Life, mosaic floor, Otranto Cathedral, Puglia, Italy.



Designed by the monk, Pantaleone, built by Duke Roger, of Apulia in 1163, completed 1166-67. Chrétien died in 1180. Between 1160 and 1170 he was at the court of Marie de Champagne. The floor is contemporary with Chrétien. The story of King Arthur was most likely brought to Otranto by the Normans who had occupied what is now Puglia and Sicily since the early eleventh century.



 The very first example of Arthurian imagery may be these mosaic pavements (Otranto Cathedral, Puglia , c.1165

Contemporary with Chretien de Troyes


Otranto. Detail of the mosaic in the cathedral. Photo by Giuseppe and Pierluigi Bolognini, from ''Il mosaico di Otranto, Biblioteca medioevale in immagini'' by Grazio Gianfreda, Edizioni Grifo


Otranto Cathedral