VITTORIA COLONNA (1547)

Poet, less important for her poetry than for her personality and her associations with famous contemporaries, particularly Michelangelo.

Of a noble family, Vittoria Colonna married Ferdinando Francesco d´Avalos, marchese di Pescara in 1509. Her husband seems to have spent most of their married life on military campaigns; nevertheless, when he died in 1525 she began a series of poems in his memory, the best modern edition of which is Rime spirituali (1882; Eng. trans., The "In Memoriam" of Italy: A Century of Sonnets from the Poems of Vittoria Colonna, 1895). She also wrote much religious poetry, but her life has drawn more interest than her work.

Learned and intelligent, of a religious and emotional nature, Vittoria was much respected by the poet Ludovico Ariosto and a close friend of other literary figures, such as the poet Jacopo Sannazzaro, the Humanist Pietro Bembo and the renowned author of the etiquette manual Il cortegiano (The Courtier), Baldassare Castiglione, as well as several contemporary religious reformers. Her most famous platonic association was with Michelangelo, whom she met in Rome in 1538 and with whom she exchanged many letters and philosophical sonnets. Michelangelo was at her bedside when she died and in his touching memorial sonnet, "To Vittoria Colonna", wrote that on her death "Nature, that never made so fair a face,/ Remained ashamed, and tears were in all eyes".

In addition to the Rime spirituali, Vittoria Colonna´s work has been published in Rime e lettere (1860; "Poetry and Letters") and her correspondence published in full as Carteggio (1889).