Virdimura

5 hrs. 1 min.

Language Russian

Author Simona Lo Iacono

Narrator Olga Salem

Description

Virdimura, born on a day of rain and omens, is named after moss—stubbornly appearing on the city walls of Catania. Her father, Master Urya—a physician who knows the secrets of healing herbs, rare scientific knowledge, and many languages—raised her. He taught Virdimura to heal bodies and souls without making distinctions between Muslims, Christians, or Jews. It was her father who passed to her an important secret: “Medicine does not require mastery. Only skill.”

In her later years, Virdimura repeats these words before a commission that will decide whether to grant a woman, for the first time in history, a license to practice medicine. In 14th-century Italy—where destinies intersect in the shadow of the boiling Etna—Simona Lo Iacono creates a grand portrait of proud and courageous Virdimura, who fights superstition and laws in order to affirm every person’s right to be treated—and women’s right to freedom.