Colonna, Vittoria

▪ Italian poet

born 1492, Marino, near Rome [Italy]

died Feb. 25, 1547, Rome

      Italian 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; The “In Memoriam” of Italy: A Century of Sonnets from the Poems of Vittoria Colonna). She also wrote much religious poetry.

      Learned and intelligent, of a religious and emotional nature, Vittoria was much respected by the poet Ludovico Ariosto and was a close friend of other literary figures, including the poet Jacopo Sannazzaro, the humanist Pietro Bembo, and the renowned author of the etiquette manual Il cortegiano (“The Courtier”), Baldassare Castiglione. Her most famous platonic association, however, 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, wrote that on her death “Nature, that never made so fair a face, / Remained ashamed, and tears were in all eyes.”

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