Quick Facts
Biography
Abella, sometimes known as Abella of Salerno, was a mid-14th century physician who studied at and taught general medicine at the Salerno school of medicine. Living 1380-?, she is believed to have lectured on standard medical practice, bile, and women's health and nature at the medical school in Salerno. She published two treatises: De atrabile and De natura seminis humani ("On Black Bile" and "On the Nature of the Seed"), which do not survive. In Salvatore De Renzi's nineteenth-century study of the Salerno School of Medicine Abella is one of four women (along with Rebecca de Guarna, Mercuriade and Constanza Calenda) mentioned who both practiced medicine and wrote treatises.
Legacy
Abella is a featured figure on Judy Chicago's installation piece The Dinner Party, being represented as one of the 999 names on the Heritage Floor. She is one of the "Ladies of Salerno" along with Rebecca Guarna, Francesca de Romana and Mercuriade who attended the medical school in Salerno from its inception.