February 1490/2 - February 1547

Vittoria Colonna

Marchioness di Pescara

Vittoria was born into a noble Roman family in Marino, Italy southeast of Rome (Targoff, 2018). Her father was Fabrizio Colonna, a military captain whom Machiavelli made his principal speaker in The Art of War, and a mercenary for the Kingdom of Naples. She, along with her family, moved to Naples when her father became Grand Constable of the Spanish ruled kingdom. Remarkably educated, she lived a grand life as a child in a fortified castle in Marino. Pope Alexander VI confiscated the Marino estate and other Colonna estates in retaliation against Neapolitan King Ferdinand IV in 1501. Vittoria and her family escaped to her betrothed’s estate on the volcanic Island of Ischia. Pope Alexander’s death ended the feud. Pope Julius II took favor with the Colonna family and returned their feudal territories. Despite the tumultuous state of Italy at the time of the Renaissance, she became the first woman, under her own name, to publicly publish her anthology of poems.

Vittoria married her betrothed, Ferdinando Francesco I d’Avalos, Marquis of Pescara, around the tender age of 17 (Targoff, 2018). More commonly known as Ferrante, the Marquis spent much of his marriage in battle (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1998a) and in the arms of other women (Targoff, 2018). Ferrante attempted to storm the Duke of Milan’s castle at the end of 1525 while still nursing the wounds from his previous battle in Pavia (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1998a). Ferrante’s siege on the duke would be his last. Ferrante died in December of the same year. There is no record of Vittoria’s presence at her husband’s funeral. (Targoff, 2018). The church decreed the proper place for a woman to grieve was in her home. Laws were passed in 1276 barring women from attending funerals because men believed their grief caused too much noise and broke decorum. Vittoria was indeed grief stricken.

Independently wealthy, childless, and alone, Vittoria was incredibly mobile for a Renaissance woman (Targoff, 2018). She frequented Rome often as she bounced around from Ischia to Marino to Aquino and Naples. Her grief made her “put her religious practice at the very center of her existence” (p. 40). She wanted to be a nun and refused to remarry. She was on a first name basis with Pope Clement VII, but he would not allow her to take vows because he needed her prominent social connections. Her humanist poetry moved from the worldly love she felt for her husband to divine love (Brundin, 2005). Despite her strong catholic upbringing, she toed the line of protestant reformation.

Vittoria’s sonnets were highly stylized in the 14-line Petrarchan fashion (Brundin, 2005). She also mirrored her female predecessors by claiming her unworthiness and inadequacy in her writings (Dunant, 2018). Like them, she also proved most contrary. She stirred the hopes of her followers by repeating allusions to key doctrinal ideas emphasized in the reformation (Brundin, 2008). She wrote joyous descriptions about the possible blessings Christians could receive if they “embrace[d] this new and cleansed Christian faith” (p. 157). As protestants began to streamline the salvation process, one could no longer receive salvation through acts of charity. The once revered Immaculate Conception of the Madonna became a protestant trivialization. Vittoria, however, used her deep connection to Mary to emphasize female autonomy while maintaining stereotypes of piety and chastity. She affirmed Mary’s position by making her a role model for feminine strength within the Catholic church. Vittoria places Mary above all beings except for Christ: “Colonna sets out to prove, through a process of systematic argument and detailed illustration, that Mary is superior to every human institution (including the pinnacles of male hierarchy, princes and kings) and to every heavenly one, including the angels, seraphims, and cherubims. She places Mary below only one figure in the celestial order, her son, and that by only a tiny amount” (p.149). The hierarchy of Mary caused the patriarchy to become suspicious of Vittoria. Decades later, papal authorities would refuse to allow publication of second editions of various sonnets.

Vittoria was a leading member of society during the Italian renaissance. She was a rhetorical and literary genius and men came to her for literary critique (Targoff, 2018). She had learned Latin and Spanish while living in Ischia (Sanson, 2016). Although she never lived in Tuscany (Targoff, 2018), she chose literary Tuscan for her poetry (Sanson, 2016). Tuscany had a profound influence on Naples and Ischia during the Renaissance. Mostly because of Dante's influence, the Tuscan dialect evolved into the elite literary language of the time. Vittoria was very much an elite and her Tuscan eloquence is reflected in her verse. Vittoria understood that to connect to her audience, she had to speak their language. Vittoria frequently corresponded using Roman dialects with Latin flares which would have been more common for her considering her upbringing. It was in Rome where she met Michelangelo and developed a lifelong friendship through a shared love of art, letter writing, and poetry (Targoff, 2018). She also corresponded with Marguerite of Navarre: A brilliant noble woman writer and advocate for the reformation residing in France. Written in her own script, Vittoria’s last will and testament was the last of her work. Michelangelo was by her side when she died at her cousin’s palace in early 1547. The men of her family did not fulfill her final wishes and amended her will. They felt they knew better how to dole out her wealth. Her will can be found in the Vatican archives.