Italy, 1600. Michelangelo Merisi – better known as Caravaggio – is a brilliant artist and a rebel against the stringent rules dictated by the Council of Trent governing the representation of sacred art. After learning that Caravaggio uses prostitutes, thieves and vagabonds as models in his sacred paintings, Pope Paul V commissions a secret Vatican agent to carry out a full investigation, to decide whether to grant the pardon the painter requested after being sentenced to death for killing one of his love rivals in a duel. Written, directed by and starring Michele Placido, who – after a fifty-year career and four years working on the project – delivers his fourteenth film as director.