How many times, as women, we have heard ourselves being called “moody”? Probably with a negative tone, as if it were something despicable or a sign of no self-control? The truth is that we women are intimately connected to the Moon. We are the representation of a subtle, cosmic, universal, mysterious, changing power with a great creative force. The complete revolution of the Moon round the earth takes 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes; and 27 days are those that Eleonora needed to secure her name in the Sicilian history: Eleonora di Mora, proud like the Moon, but in the same time enthusiast, right and beautiful, during the 27 days of her government, she made her personal revolution.

In Palermo, a city beautiful but marked by several years of famine, starvations, epidemics, misery, revolts against the Spanish crown, represented in the island by a Viceroy, on 16th April 1677, the then deputy of the Spanish King, Don Angel de Guzmán died suddenly. The corrupt members of the Holy Royal Council are sure that they are having a green light to their own intrigues for a long while, because, by the law, one of them will be the substitute of the deceased until a new Viceroy is designated by the Spanish Crown. But they got the maths wrong: a will exists which designates his wife, Donna Eleonora di Mora, to succeed him. The will is incontrovertible and great is the disappointment of the Council - A female in power! It’s unheard of! - especially since Donna Eleonora reveals herself willing to take over the reins of power and to get the situation back on track, right starting by healing corruption, restoring justice and punishing the misdeeds of the Council members first of all. Eleonora succeeds in forcing the Council to resign and in punishing the guilty people, gaining the affection of the people who at first are perplexed and then acclaim her. But, of all people, an enemy seems particularly dangerous and tenacious, the bishop Turro Mendoza, about whom, among others, there are terrible rumours…

27 days, few days, but enough to shake a corrupt system and to pass revolutionary laws that remained in force also after Eleonora was deposed. This story, maybe, has a positive moral as well: perhaps the good people don’t always win, but they are able to make themselves loved and to leave important traces in history and in individuals’ personal stories.