Gigi Berardi
Author
Gigi Berardi hails from Hollywood, and holds degrees in biology, resources and planning, and dance. A Fulbright scholar in Italy and professor at Western Washington University in Bellingham, she also teaches in Florence, Italy. She’s written more than 400 reviews and articles for print media and been featured on an array of podcasts and broadcast media. Beyond writing, her other passions include dance, cheesemaking, and travel.
274
April 9, 2026
Episode 274 - Rewriting Bianca Capello: A Conversation With Author Gigi Berardi
On this episode of the Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast, Jennie and Dianne are joined by author Gigi Berardi to talk about "Bianca’s Cure", her fact-driven historical novel about Bianca Capello, who in real life was famed for her beauty, but Gigi’s Bianca is a scientist centuries ahead of her time, hunting a malaria cure with the herb artemisia.Malaria, took the lives of many in Italy in the 14th century, including several members of one of Italy's most famed royal families, the Medicis. The same family Bianca married into. When her husband, the Grand Duke Francesco de’ Medici died, they found arsenic in his bones. And Bianca? Her body was never found. Denied a Medici tomb, she likely vanished into an unmarked grave.Listen in for a fascinating discussion of medicine, politics, passion, and mysteries beyond some of Italy's most Ordinary Extraordinary graves.
Guest: Gigi Berardi