Great Italian female poet was born in Padua
Gaspara Stampa, the greatest female poet of the Italian Renaissance,
died on this day in 1554 in Venice at the age of 31.
She is regarded by many as the greatest Italian female poet of any age,
despite having had such a brief life.
Gaspara was born in Padua and lived in the city until she was eight
years old. Her father, Bartolomeo, had been a jewellery and gold merchant, but
after he died, Gaspara’s mother, Cecilia, took her three children to live in
Venice.
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| The Caffe Pedrocchi in the centre of Padua is now a meeting place for writers |
Along with her sister, Cassandra, and brother, Baldassare, Gaspara was
educated in literature, music, history and painting. She excelled at singing
and playing the lute and her home became a cultural hub as it was visited by
many Venetian writers, painters and musicians.
Gaspara dedicated most of her poems to Count Collatino di Collalto of
Treviso , with whom she had an affair. When he broke off the relationship she was devastated and suffered from
depression, but she wrote some of her most beautiful poems at this time,
creating for herself a lasting literary reputation.
Only three of her poems were published during her lifetime, although many
were circulated among her literary friends in Venice.
Gaspara went to live in Florence for some time because of poor health,
hoping that the milder climate might help her. But on her return to Venice in
1554 she became ill with a fever and died after 15 days on 23 April. The parish
register recorded the cause of her death as ‘fever and colic’, although the theory has also been put forward that it
could have been a suicide.
The first edition of Gaspara Stampa’s poetry, Rime di Madonna Gaspara
Stampa, was published in Venice six months after her death.
Gaspara’s 311 poems are considered to be the most important collection
of female poetry of the 16th century. They were edited by Gaspara’s sister,
Cassandra, and the edition was dedicated to the Florentine poet and writer,
Giovanni della Casa.
The German poet, Rainer Maria Rilke, refers to Gaspara Stampa in the
first of his Duino Elegies, which were written while he was staying at Duino
Castle on the Adriatic coast near Trieste . The Duino Elegies are now
considered to be his greatest work.
