  General Relativity is not the definitive theory of Gravitation due to several
shortcomings which are coming out both from theoretical and experimental
viewpoints. At large scales (astrophysical and cosmological scales) the
attempts to match it with the today observational data lead to invoke Dark
Energy and Dark Matter as the bulk components of the cosmic fluid. Since no
final evidence, at fundamental level, exists for such ingredients, it is clear
that General Relativity presents shortcomings at infrared scales. On the other
hand, the attempts to formulate theories more general than the Einstein one
give rise to mathematical difficulties that need workarounds which, in turn,
generate problems from the interpretative viewpoint. We present here a
completely new approach to the mathematical objects in terms of which a theory
of Gravitation may be written in a first-order `a la Palatini formalism, and
introduce the concept of Dark Metric which could completely bypass the
introduction of disturbing concepts as Dark Energy and Dark Matter.
