Anna Maria Arduino (1672–1700) was an Italian regent,

socialite A socialite is a person from a wealthy and (possibly) aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having traditio ...

, painter and writer. She was the regent of the

Principality of Piombino The Lordship of Piombino (''Signoria di Piombino''), and after 1594 the Principality of Piombino (''Principato di Piombino''), was a small state on the Italian peninsula centred on the city of Piombino and including part of the island of Elba. I ...

during the minority of her son Prince

Niccolò II Ludovisi Niccolò is an Italian male given name, derived from the Greek Nikolaos meaning "Victor of people" or "People's champion". There are several male variations of the name: Nicolò, Niccolò, Nicolas, and Nicola. The female equivalent is Nicole. The f ...

in 1699–1700.

Life

She was born in

Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in 1672, to Giovanna Furnari and Paolo Arduino, the

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

of Polizzi and

Marquis A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

of Floresta. She was a descendant of the

Notarbartolo Notarbartolo is one of the main aristocratic families of the Sicilian nobility. Originated in the Middle Ages, it gave to the island numerous personalities who have made a significant contribution to its social, political, intellectual and artisti ...

family, an

aristocratic Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At the time of the word's ...

family of the

Sicilian nobility The Sicilian nobility was a privileged hereditary class in the Kingdom of Sicily, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Kingdom of Italy, whose origins may be traced to the 11th century AD. History The Romans, Byzantines and Saracens exported ...

. She authored writings and attended school under the pseudonym Getilde Faresia. She was married in 1697 to the Prince of

Piombino Piombino is an Italian town and ''comune'' of about 35,000 inhabitants in the province of Livorno (Tuscany). It lies on the border between the Ligurian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea, in front of Elba Island and at the northern side of Maremma. Ove ...

Giovan Battista Ludovisi Giovan Battista Ludovisi (''John Baptist Ludovisi'') (1647 - 24 August 1699) was the Prince of Piombino, serving from 1665 until his death in 1699. Life Giovan Battista Ludovisi was the son and heir of Niccolò I Ludovisi and his third wife Costa ...

(1647– 24 August 1699) and together they had a child named Niccolò II Ludovisi (c.1698–1699) and lived in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. She attended the

Pontifical Academy of Arcadia The Accademia degli Arcadi or Accademia dell'Arcadia, "Academy of Arcadia" or "Academy of the Arcadians", was an Italian literary academy founded in Rome in 1690. The full Italian official name was Pontificia Accademia degli Arcadi. History F ...

(Accademia dell'Arcadia) in 1697. She wrote poems and sonnets in Latin and Italian under the pseudonym Getilde Faresia. Her spouse died in 1699 and the principality succession fell to Niccolò II Ludovisi for a few months, after his father's death, and Anna Maria Arduino served as the

Regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

during his minority. That same year, in 1699 her young son died. Arduino died shortly after in Naples, Italy on 29 December 1700 at the age of 28. She is buried in the church of San Diego all'Ospedaletto, her grave is shared with her son and the

sepulchres A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immuremen ...

are marked by two marble

bas-reliefs Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

that depict the son and the half-length of the mother, they were sculpted between 1703 and 1704 by

Giacomo Colombo Giacomo Colombo (1663–1730) was an Italian sculptor, painter and engraver, he worked in Naples, Italy in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Biography Colombo was born in 1663 in Este, Padua, Italy. He moved to Naples in 1678. Colombo ...

References

{{Authority control 1672 births 1700 deaths Pseudonymous women writers 17th-century pseudonymous writers Italian socialites 17th-century Italian nobility Principality of Piombino People from Piombino 17th-century Italian women artists Princesses of Piombino Sicilian princesses Members of the Academy of Arcadians Painters from Messina 17th-century women rulers