Laura Battiferra – a Poetess for the Great Siege

Giovanni Bonello wrote a series of three articles for the Times of Malta (2012) on the poetess Laura Battiferra in relation to the Great Siege of Malta (1565).

Laura Battiferra by Agnolo Bronzino c.1560

"Laura Battiferra – Laura who? She had sunk into almost total oblivion, even though she was the wife of one of the most distinguished artists of the High Renaissance: Bartolomeo Ammannati. If one wanted to be generous, she had become an inconspicuous footnote in the history of Italian literature. The cultural explosion of feminism in more recent years has reversed the trend of gender neglect and again pushed Battiferra to the forefront."

Bonnello notes that: " Women do not generally celebrate war in poetry – only silly men do that – but then they do sometimes sing the praises and the virtues of male warriors and champions, the handsome supermen of their unacknowledged dreams, objects of unabashed hero worship or more."

Of her final days, Bonnello writes: "Battiferra spent most of the last stretch of her life in a chapel specially built for her by her husband in a rented villa in Camerata, close to the gates of Florence. Ammannati could afford that and much else besides, after a long and highly successful career as a sculptor and an architect. She passed away in November (probably the 1st), 1589, and was buried in the Ammannati chapel in the Florentine church of San Giovannino whose façade had been designed by her gifted husband."

Times of Malta: 
Laura Battiferra – a poetess for the Great Siege (July 29, 2012)
Laura Battiferra’s four poems on the Great Siege of Malta (August 5, 2012)
Poetess sings praises of Great Siege heroes August 12, 2012

About Laura Battiferra:

• Wikipedia - Laura Battiferra
• Italian Women Writers - Laura Battiferra Ammannati
• Creative Partners: the Marriage of Laura Battiferra and Bartolomeo Ammannati 
• eScholaship: Laura Battiferra - An Open Book
• Project Continua - Laura Battiferra Ammannati

Books on / featuring Laura Battiferra:

• Italian Women Writers: A Bio-bibliographical Sourcebook edited by Rinaldina Russell
• Laura Battiferra and Her Literary Circle: An Anthology: A Bilingual Edition By Laura Battiferra degli Ammannati
• Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance: Italy, France, and England edited by Diana Maury Robin, Anne R. Larsen, Carole Levin
• Women Poets of the Italian Renaissance: Courtly Ladies and Courtesans by Laura Anna Stortoni, Mary Prentice Lillie

A Little Bit of History

From UPI: Bologna to restore medieval canals.

Officials in Bologna believe restoring its canals, paved over in the name of progress 50 years ago, will make the Italian city more attractive. Bologna's canals date to the late Middle Ages and were dug between the 12th and 16th centuries. Five canals still survive, although mostly underground, including the Navile, which carried shipping traffic from Bologna to the Po River.

From the Malay Mail: The Iron Maiden of Nuremburg.

The most famous example is the Iron Maiden of Nuremberg, which was destroyed in the 1944 air raids. A replica was then obtained from the Royal Castle of Nuremberg and crafted for public display which was later sold. Find out more about torture devices used during the Medieval times at "Tortura2: Exhibition of Medieval Instruments of Punishment", from now on until Feb 28 at Bastion House, Malacca.

From the Indian Express: Mona Lisa had high colesterol.

Mona Lisa’s famous smile may have been the result of fatty acids gathered around her eye socket suggesting her high cholesterol levels, according to an Italian medical expert.Vito Franco, Professor of Pathological Anatomy at the University of Palermo, who has been studying art masterpieces for evidence of disease and illness, alleged some of the world’s greatest works of art revealed signs of illness.

From the Times of Malta: Valetta built on agricultural land.

Mount Sceberras, the hill on which Valletta was built, was not barren wasteland but served as agricultural land in medieval times, according to new archaeological evidence. New evidence that the hill was the site of “intense, ancient and medieval agricultural occupation” challenged the often-repeated theory that Mount Sceberras was barren and rocky, architect and Valletta Rehabilitation Project CEO Claude Borg said. Mount Sceberras had been chosen by Grand Master Jean de la Valette as the site to build the new capital city after the Great Siege in 1565.