![Antonietta Fagnani Arese](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Antonietta_Fagnani_Arese.jpg)
Antonietta Fagnani Arese (
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, 19 November 1778 –
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
, 11 December 1847) was an Milanese noble woman, translator of
Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...
, and correspondent of
Ugo Foscolo
Ugo Foscolo (; 6 February 177810 September 1827), born Niccolò Foscolo, was an Italian writer, revolutionary and a poet.
He is especially remembered for his 1807 long poem ''Dei Sepolcri''.
Early life
Foscolo was born in Zakynthos in the Io ...
.
Biography
Antonia Barbara Giulia Faustina Angiola Lucia Fagnani was the last child of Giacomo Fagnani (1740-1785) and Costanza Brusati Settala (1747-1805), sister of
Maria Emilia Fagnani, later
Marchioness of Hertford and
Countess of Pembroke {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022
Countess of Pembroke is a title that has been borne by several women throughout history, including:
* Isabel de Clare, 4th Countess of Pembroke (1172–1220), wife of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and Count ...
. She married Marco Arese Lucini, sixth count of Barlassina of the
Arese family
The Arese (or Aresi, Aresio, or Arexio in ancient form) are a prominent family of the Milanese nobility.
Origins
Originating in the comune of Arese on the outskirts of Milan and descending from the Lombard Captains of Arexio (Capitanei d'Are ...
, son of Benedetto Arese Lucini and Margherita Lucini of the Marquis of Besate, on 20 February 1798 at
Santa Maria alla Porta church in Milan. They had five children, three of whom survived: Margherita (1798-1828), Costanza (1803–1822) and
Francesco
Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name " Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include:
People with the given name Francesco
* Francesco I (disambiguation), sev ...
(1805-1881).
Antonietta was one of the most notable figures of Milanese society in the
Napoleonic era
The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislative ...
. Close friends with
Hortense de Beauharnais
Hortense Eugénie Cécile Bonaparte (; , ; 10 April 1783 – 5 October 1837) was Queen consort of Holland. She was the stepdaughter of Emperor Napoléon I as the daughter of his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais. Hortense later married Napolà ...
, Queen Consort of the Netherlands, whose son became
Napoleon III
Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...
, she was active in the court of her brother
Eugène de Beauharnais
Eugène Rose de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg (; 3 September 1781 – 21 February 1824) was a French nobleman, statesman, and military commander who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.
Through the second marr ...
, Viceroy of
the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy.
Fluent in French, English, and German, she translated ''
The Sorrows of Young Werther
''The Sorrows of Young Werther'' (; german: Die Leiden des jungen Werthers) is a 1774 epistolary novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, which appeared as a revised edition in 1787. It was one of the main novels in the ''Sturm ...
'' by
Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...
into Italian and helped
Ugo Foscolo
Ugo Foscolo (; 6 February 177810 September 1827), born Niccolò Foscolo, was an Italian writer, revolutionary and a poet.
He is especially remembered for his 1807 long poem ''Dei Sepolcri''.
Early life
Foscolo was born in Zakynthos in the Io ...
with his revisions of ''
The Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis
''Ultime lettere di Jacopo Ortis'' (''The Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis'') is an epistolary novel written by Ugo Foscolo between 1798 and 1802 and first published later that year. A second edition, with major changes, was published by Foscolo i ...
'' (1802).
Relationship with Ugo Foscolo
Her relationship with Foscolo likely began in July 1801. The poet dedicated his ode ''All'amica risanata'' ('To the healed friend') to her, stating "Oh how beautiful you were that evening! How many times I retracted my eyes full of fear! Yes, my fantasy and my heart began to create of you a divinity," ("''E com'eri tu bella questa sera! Quante volte ho ritirati i miei occhi pieni di spavento! Sì, la mia fantasia e il mio cuore cominciano a crearsi di te una divinità ''.")
By 4 March 1803, their relationship had ended, with Foscolo writing that Antonietta "had a heart made of brain" ("''aveva il cuore fatto di cervello''").
Their relationship is known through his letters, which present an interesting literary case. Antonietta returned Foscolo's letters to him after their relations had ended, and the poet then entrusted them to
Silvio Pellico
Silvio Pellico (; 24 June 1789 – 31 January 1854) was an Italian writer, poet, dramatist and patriot active in the Italian unification.
Biography
Silvio Pellico was born in Saluzzo (Piedmont). He spent the earlier portion of his life at Pin ...
. After Pellico's arrest the letters passed through various hands, including the Italo-Greek writer Emilio De Tipaldo. De Tipaldo created two
apographa Apographa refers to established copies or transcripts of certain texts, usually religious or ecclesiastical, rather than the original autographs by the original authors or writers.
Issues
There are scholars and theologians who consider only the ...
, which ended up with the Barbèra Editorial House. The originals, likely in Greece, have never been found.
Death
Having contracted a grave disease, in October 1847 she moved to Genoa to heal but soon died. Her remains are buried at the church of
San Babila
San Babila is a Romanesque-style Roman Catholic church in Milan, region of Lombardy, Italy. It was once considered the third most important in the city after the Duomo and the Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio. It is dedicated to saint Babylas of Anti ...
in Milan.
A Milanese legend tells that at a full moon the ghost of Antonietta, as protector of lovers, would appear on the balcony of
Palazzo Arese at 8
corso Venezia
Corso Venezia is a street in Milan, Italy. It is one of the city's most exclusive and elegant avenues, being part of the city's upscale ''Quadrilatero della moda'' shopping district, along with Via Montenapoleone, Via della Spiga, Via Sant'Andrea a ...
. After the building's demolition in 1943, following damage suffered by bombings in the second World War, the palazzo's original neoclassical balcony was saved and included in the facade of a modern building.
Contemporary testimonies
Antonietta's reputation was often one of controversy:
Stendhal
Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, ; ), was a 19th-century French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' (''The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de P ...
referred to her as a ''femme de génie,''
Vincenzo Monti
Vincenzo Monti (19 February 1754 – 13 October 1828) was an Italian poet, playwright, translator, and scholar, the greatest interpreter of Italian neoclassicism in all of its various phases. His verse translation of the ''Iliad'' is considered ...
admired her greatly, and Giuseppe Pecchio, biographer of Foscolo, wrote: "She makes a game of men because she believes them born like roosters, made for loving, jealousy, and scuffles" ("''Si fa gioco degli uomini perché li crede nati come i galli per amare, ingelosirsi e azzuffarsi''")
Giuseppe Rovani
Giuseppe Rovani (12 January 1818–26 January 1874) was an Italian novelist and essayist.
Rovani was born in Milan. He was known for criticism of historical novels of the Romantic style, which were popular in Italy at the time and whose ste ...
, in his masterwork ''Cento anni'', wrote: "most beautiful of beauties, she had much spirit, much ingenuity, much culture (she spoke four languages); she was kind, generous, and affable; in sum, she constituted the rare combination of egrege qualities; but all of them seemed to fall apart under the hurricane of her one defect. She made love her only pastime; but a pastime that was tumultuous, quivering, restless; one must say that this love was parent of that which remained naked in Greece, as Foscolo said" ("''bellissima fra le belle, aveva molto spirito, molto ingegno, molta coltura (parlava quattro lingue); era buona, generosa e affabile; costituiva insomma il complesso rarissimo di egrege qualità ; ma tutte parevano sfasciarsi sotto l'uragano di un difetto solo. Ella faceva dell'amore l'unico passatempo; ma un passatempo tumultuoso, fremebondo, irrequieto; né occorre il dire che quell'amore era parente di quello rimasto nudo in Grecia, come disse Foscolo''".
Notes
References
* Guido Fagioli Vercellone,
Fagnani Antonietta', in "Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani," XLIV, Rome, Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 1994.
* Ugo Foscolo, ''Lacrime d'amore: lettere ad Antonietta Fagnani Arese'', edited by G. Pacchiano; introduction by E. Sanguineti, Parma, Guanda, 2008.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arese, Anonietta
1778 births
1847 deaths
Italian translators