Busa of Canosa di Puglia

Paulina Busa was an Apulian woman of Canasoa of noble blood. "Paulina" was her given name and Busa was used as a family name.

Life

When Hannibal was ravishing the countryside of southern Italy and laying to waste everything in his path he came upon an Apulian village of Cannae in 216 BC. He obliterated most of the Italian forces there. There were about 10,000 men that escaped Hannibal's bloodbath by secretly leaving the area by backroads at night. The fugitives that arrived in Canasoa were destitute. They had no food, clothing, medical supplies, or even any military weapons. Busa came to the rescue and provided these soldiers with what was needed by receiving them into her house. She obtained doctors and medical supplies and took care of the wounded. It is recorded in history that her deeds were on par with the generosity of Alexander the Great. There is to this day a house of Punic ruins in the Roman city center of Canasoa that is know to the locals as that belonging to Paulina Busa, the noblewoman that helped the Italian soldiers.

References

*Livy "Ab urbe condita libri" XXII.52
*Valerius Maximus, "Factorum at dictorum memorabilium libri" IV.8.2
*Virginia Brown's translation of Giovanni Boccaccio’s "Famous Women", pp 140 - 142; Harvard University Press, 2001; ISBN 0-674-01130-9