The Campania city of Salerno, much loved by Italian and foreign tourists for its beautiful coasts, for the art and for the nightlife that animates it at any time of the year, boasts an ancient and prestigious history.
It was inhabited since ancient times, in the Middle Ages it saw a first period of important economic and cultural development under the Longobards, only to lose prestige over the centuries due to alternating political events, which will still see it at the height of its splendor in the 1500s, as the capital of the Principality of Sanseverino.
Many were the fascinating protagonists of the political and cultural events of the city, which boasts one of the first European medical schools, developed between the eighth and ninth centuries AD, but also an ancient university, born around the medical school, but in which the teachings imparted were not limited to the arts of Hippocrates, but included Law, Philosophy and Theology.
One of the implications of the turmoil and cultural progress of the city in the medieval period is to be found in the role of Salerno women in the public life of the time: going decidedly against the current compared to almost all the other countries and peoples known in the West, women were granted the possibility of studying, working in the medical field, and in some cases even having political responsibilities, even though they always remained in second place with respect to their respective husbands or fathers. However, it should be noted that these opportunities were reserved for a small circle of people: only the daughters of the wealthiest and most important families in the city could enjoy these privileges.
Among the most fascinating women in the history of Salerno, a Lombard princess stands out, whose charisma combined attractiveness, charm and a rare intelligence: Princess Sichelgaita, whose history is intertwined in her last years with that of another protagonist of the Salerno Middle Ages : the doctor Trotula de Ruggiero.