What is the title of your latest release?
BIANCA’S CURE
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A single-minded young woman in Renaissance Florence uses her charm and cunning to pursue early science in a world controlled by men and filled with alchemy and superstition, religious dogma, and political treachery - including within her own family. Her cause is curing malaria, and her main tool is the herb artemisia - medicine still used today.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I decided on Florence because I teach in Tuscany and know quite a bit about Florence. It’s a romantic and popular travel destination, and I thought it would be fun to describe some of the magic and mysticism of the legendary Medici family, and of a young woman trying to break into it.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
She might be a little intense. The inspiration for my novel was the mysterious open window in Piazza Santissima Annunziata in Florence where the spirit of my heroine, Bianca Capello, is said to reside (if the window is closed, she screams) in one of Florence’s most popular squares. I guess I would hang out with her there, at the nice little café above the building where most of my action then took place.
What are three words that describe your hero?
passionate, daring, fierce
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
• I believe that the face of my protagonist in Bianca’s Cure appears on the Medici porcelain at the Met in NYC (this would have been while she was Francesco’s mistress)
• That some of the famous people I fictionalize - Michelangelo, Galileo, Francecso de’ Medici, Bianca Capello— might well have interacted with each other.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I edit as I draft and also, many times over, when the draft is done, and when the book is done. I especially edit for commas since I write the way I speak, with lots of qualifying and sidetracked clauses.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Brown cow coffee yoghurt
Describe your writing space/office!
A cabin in the woods that my son built from wood on our property. In my house, it’d be hard to find my desk, it’s so cluttered. But, there’d be pens, candles, a glass of water.
Who is an author you admire? Books that changed your life
Books and authors - The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Caste by Isabel Wilkerson.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published). Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I was in New York City, in a tiny hotel room, and I had a zoom with the publisher (Brooke Warner), it was thrilling.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Medical mystery and historical fiction.
What’s your favorite movie?
Get Out, Sinners. Kiss of the Spider Woman, Little Miss Sunshine, Parasite, Moonlight, Bridesmaids, Psycho (hard to choose)
What is your favorite season?
summer
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
In a nice restaurant
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Happy Valley. (seasons 1 & 2)
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Asian
What do you do when you have free time?
I walk or cycle
What can readers expect from you next?
Writing Bianca’s Cure blogs on what really happened in the story, how much of it is true, and how readers can discover the mysteries of Florence for themselves, At https://gigiberardi.com/biancas-cure/
A Novel
For fans of Lessons in Chemistry, a based-in-fact novel imagining young Renaissance noblewoman Bianca Capello’s experiences as she pursues a cure for malaria in the Medicis’ Florence.
Florence, 1563. Forbidden from practicing her herbal cures in Venice, the young noblewoman Bianca Capello flees to Florence, where the ruling Medici family practices alchemy. There, she wins herself an invitation to their palace, and, as it turns out, a path to the duke regent Francesco’s bed.
The impassioned bond between Francesco de Medici and Bianca is at the core of this fact-driven dive into medicine, politics, love, and ultimately death in Renaissance Florence. Malaria killed many of the Medicis, but traces of the poison arsenic were recently found in Francesco’s remains. Even more sinister: Bianca’s remains have never been found. To this day, what happened to Bianca and Francesco remains one of the greatest mysteries surrounding Renaissance Italy’s legendary Medicis.
Bianca’s Cure probes what might have been as Bianca’s quest for a malaria cure—in palaces, gardens, sick rooms, and whorehouses—collides with Francesco’s intensifying illness. Her main tool is the herb artemisia—medicine still used today. A woman who dared to practice science well ahead of her time, Bianca fights off self-doubt until she believes herself invincible. But is she? When only she stands between Francesco and death, her skill may save him or doom them both.
Historical [ She Writes Press, On Sale: February 10, 2026, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9798896360704 / eISBN: 9798896360711 ]
GIGI BERARDI teaches food and writing classes at Western Washington University and in Global Learning Programs. A Fulbright scholar, she holds three graduate degrees, but considers herself mostly a professional writer. She has authored over 300 popular articles and reviews for print and broadcast media - much of these on the arts and in reference to her widely-read book, Finding Balance. As one reviewer noted, “Once in a while a book comes along which makes me wish I had written it—such a book is Finding Balance.” Her book, FoodWISE, received a DOZEN WRITING AWARDS AND over 30 endorsements, including from Michael Pollan, “[it’s] full of wisdom” and Forbes, hailing it as one of nineteen noteworthy food books. Her newest work is historical fiction, a chilling retelling of a woman scientist’s search for a malarial cure in Renaissance Florence.
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