Margarita Balliana (''fl''. 1680) was a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

woman of letters from

Casale Monferrato Casale Monferrato () is a town in the Piedmont region of Italy, in the province of Alessandria. It is situated about east of Turin on the right bank of the Po, where the river runs at the foot of the Montferrat hills. Beyond the river lies the v ...

in north-west

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 ...

. She received a good education in philosophy and history and was described by Gioseffantonio Morano as ‘illustrious for the fineness of her talents’. She published various poems in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and in Italian and was praised by

Stefano Guazzo Stefano Guazzo (; 1530–1593) was an Italian writer from Casale Monferrato. Biography Guazzo studied law, and thereafter worked for Lodovico Gonzaga and other members of the family, for which he was active as a diplomat in France and the Papa ...

, the most prominent writer of Renaissance Casale, and by Fulgenzio Alghisi, the historian of

Monferrato Montferrat (, ; it, Monferrato ; pms, Monfrà , locally ; la, Mons Ferratus) is part of the region of Piedmont in northern Italy. It comprises roughly (and its extent has varied over time) the modern provinces of Province of Alessandria, ...

. She married Federico Prato, a senator of Monferrato.Gioseffantonio Morano
''Catalogo degli illustri scrittori di Casale: e di tutto il ducato di Monferrato e delle opere da' medesimi composte, e date alla luce''
(Asti: Stamperia del Pila, 1771), p. 12.

References

People from Casale Monferrato Women writers (Renaissance) 17th-century Italian writers 17th-century Italian women writers Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 17th-century writers in Latin Neo-Latin poets Latin-language writers from Italy {{Italy-noble-stub

See also

References