This episode is a banger.
While visiting the church of San Domenico in Naples last year, I learned how the bodies of the royal family who ruled Naples during the Renaissance were naturally mummified.
This discovery was made after the Irpinia Earthquake of 1980. (If you’re a fan of Elena Ferrante, this is the same earthquake described in “The Story of a Lost Child,” the last book in the “My Brilliant Friend” series.) Among the mummies was a body dressed in nun’s clothing as well as an elegant noble woman’s gown beneath it. In addition to the clothing, long fingers, and feet indicated the body was female, but when analyzed by paleo-pathologists at the University of Pisa, the sex could not be determined. The pathology report speculated that the mummy had likely been an intersex person, a fascinating discovery on its own, but even more so when historians speculated that it may also be the body of Vittoria Colonna, the most famous woman of the Renaissance.
I discuss the multifaceted life story of Vittoria Colonna with my friend Rita J. King whose ten year captivation with the Renaissance poet began while on vacation in Ischia, searching for her own great-grandfather’s birth certificate. We discuss how Colonna was described by princes and popes as having “male brains,” and how her body disapeared immediatley after she died. Rita believes Michelangelo, Colonna’s most brilliant friend, embalmed her, and if the mummy is indeed Colonna, this would have been a critical step in sneaking her body out of Rome before the Inquisitors could stop them, so she could be secretly entombed in Naples.
It’s an intriguing exercise to consider such a famous life with the knowledge that Colonna had a body that allowed her to be accepted by powerful men, but also be seen as beautiful, because androgyny was the highest ideal of beauty during the Renaissance. It also casts light on why Colonna never bore children, even though she was sent to Ischia as a child for a dynastic marriage that was intended to produce many strategic heirs. I hope you’ll enjoy this episode and share your thoughts and ideas in the comments.
00:00 A Love Story for the Ages
01:05 Exploring Naples and Ischia with Rita
01:44 The Aragonese Kings and Their Health Secrets
02:41 The Mysterious Mummy Discovery
03:53 Unraveling the Mystery of Vittoria Colonna
05:44 A Personal Journey to Ischia
08:57 The Life and Legacy of Vittoria Colonna
12:58 Michelangelo's Obsession
22:15 The Androgynous Ideal in the Renaissance
31:14 The Final Mystery and Conclusion
Share this post