Bianca’s Cure
Set in late Renaissance Italy, this novel follows Bianca, the beautiful daughter of a Venetian nobleman and a healer. Forbidden by her family to pursue her passion for medicine, she marries beneath her station to escape to Florence, that great centre of learning, determined to discover a cure for the “heat disease,” or malaria, that killed her mother. Consumed by her mission, she quickly angers her new husband and formidable mother-in-law, but she refuses to abandon her purpose.
Despite every obstacle, Bianca presses on. She becomes the mistress of the Grand Duke’s only son and persuades him to support her research, yet even his influence cannot open all the doors barred to a woman meddling in forbidden science. Forced to work in secret, she endures her lover’s marriage to another, her husband’s contempt and infidelity, and the dangers of treating the poorest prostitutes under filthy conditions—all while fearing accusations of witchcraft. Still, she is driven.
Berardi vividly portrays the duality of Florentine life: its brilliance in art and scholarship contrasted with its poverty, ignorance, and the vulnerability of women. Told in a close third person through Bianca’s eyes, the novel blends historical detail with compelling fiction. Her obsession feels exaggerated, but as a lover of all things Renaissance, I found the story absorbing.
