The Olympics open to a Milan exhibit, The Women Alchemists, an exhibition by Anselm Kiefer, on February 7. It’s part of the cultural program of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games, reports Marsilioarte.
In my book, Bianca’s cause is curing malaria, and her main tool is the herb artemisia. Needed in the 16th century then was a combination of systematic study, observation and perception, and traditional medicine—and that mix is what resulted in recognition for the life-saving discovery, finally, in the 20th century.
Bianca, at ten years of age, writes, “Mama knew about how the plants interacted with each other, and how she could extract their healing substances, one by one, with her new alembic.”
In the Milan exhibit, women wielding alembics and other chemistry equipment figure prominently—and in the same time period, as in my book. Caterina Sforza (Francesco’s great grandmother) and Isabella Cortese (in Venice, during Bianca’s time there as a child and young teen) are featured.
I couldn’t have said it better: “They were pioneers in experimenting with the medicinal properties of herbs,” comments curator Gabriella Belli, “in preparing potions obtained through alembics and distillation, intended for the health of the body … At a time when science, as we understand it today, was still stumbling between experimentation and fantasy, improvisation and rationality, women, subverting the priorities that underpinned alchemical work … looked mainly at the practical application of the results of their experiments, thus overshadowing the philosophical and esoteric speculations of men in terms of benefits and usefulness”.
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