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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.

Purchase your copy of "Bianca's Cure" here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Biancas-Cure/Gigi-Berardi/9798896360704

Need an Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery Podcast tee, hoodie or mug? Find all our taphophile-fun much here: https://oecemetery.etsy.com

Family Tales: A free printable, is now available! Gather 'round the table and dig into your roots! This interactive family history game is perfect for holidays, reunions, or just because. Ask, listen, and laugh your way through generations of stories and secrets. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UT_R56qEwNTIxIBrTy8KFyVmGnFOe7g8/view?usp=sharing

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This week, Jennie and Dianne are "digging" into some truly Ordinary Extraordinary recent news stories from cemeteries across the US. First up, Lafayette, Colorado, where a local cemetery has run out of burial space, leaving families in a lurch despite owning plots. Then, on to the stunning shores of Lake Superior in Minnesota, where a historic pioneer cemetery is literally losing its graves to erosion, bringing skeletal remains to the surface and sparking a fight for state funding to save it. And finally, a story published by Smithsonian Magazine unearths a tale from the early 2000s in Chicago's historic Burr Oak Cemetery, where four men were busted for desecrating graves for profit, all thanks to a very specific type of moss!

You can find the links to each of the articles here:

https://www.cpr.org/2026/03/27/lafayette-cemetery-overcrowding/

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/scandia-cemetery-erosion-lake-superior-duluth/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-a-tiny-clump-of-moss-helped-the-fbi-solve-a-grave-robbing-case-180988328/

Need an Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery Podcast tee, hoodie or mug? Find all our taphophile-fun much here: https://oecemetery.etsy.com

Family Tales: A free printable, is now available! Gather 'round the table and dig into your roots! This interactive family history game is perfect for holidays, reunions, or just because. Ask, listen, and laugh your way through generations of stories and secrets. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UT_R56qEwNTIxIBrTy8KFyVmGnFOe7g8/view?usp=sharing

Support the show