Login — or — register

The image of Moderata Fonte chosen by Doglioni for the volume 'The Merit of Women'.

Discovered only recently, she is appreciated not only for her unquestionable talent for poetry and literature but above all for her reflections on the condition of women in the 16th century, which led her to produce the work The Merit of Women

Moderata can be considered one of the first advocates of women's emancipation, at a time when culture was an exclusively male matter.

Moderata Fonte, whose real name was Modesta Pozzo or da Pozzo, was born in Venice on 15 June 1555 into a well-to-do family - her father was a lawyer - that belonged to the class of 'original citizens' of Venice, a second-rate nobility just after the patricians. He was only one year old when the plague killed his parents. Together with her brother, she then went to live in her maternal grandmother's house, but a relative, greedy for the patrimony of which the orphan girl was the custodian, secretly took her away and placed her in a nunnery.At the age of nine, she returned to her grandparents' h

This content is inside a paywall, and requires a subscription or registration.

Continue reading:

7,99€ per month, or 59€ per year

Invest in culture, in beauty, in a better future.
You can unsubscribe whenever you want.

Enjoy the full experience