Isotta Gervasi

Life & Legacy

Isotta Gervasi (Born in Castiglione di Cervia on 21 November 1889 – died in Modena on 17 June 1967) was an Italian physician. She was the first woman in Italy to work as a physician and practised in the Cervese area. Due to her determination to aid those in need, she acquired a legendary image over time, being remembered as the "doctor of the poor" and the "angel on a bicycle".

Grazia Deledda, a close friend of Isotta who was spending her holidays in Cervia, dedicated an elzeviro, an article in the third page of a newspaper, to her in Corriere della Sera in August 1935:The doctor is beautiful, elegant, in the evening she transforms like the fairy Melusina, with her clothes and her dazzling jewels and her eyes and teeth even more dazzling: a fairy is also so in front of the sick bed, whether a prince or a worker, to whom, in addition to her skilful care, she generously gives bottles of ancient wine, chickens and flowers. Her name is Isotta.