Gaspara Stampa

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Gaspara Stampa (1523 – 23 April 1554) was an Italian poet. She is considered to have been the greatest woman poet of the Italian Renaissance, and she is regarded by many as the greatest Italian woman poet of any age. Stampa's father, Bartolomeo, originally from Milan, was a jewel and gold merchant in Padua, where she was born, along with her siblings Cassandra and Baldassarre. When Gaspara was eight, her father died and her mother, Cecilia, moved to Venice with her children, whom she educated in literature, music, history, and painting. Gaspara and Cassandra excelled at singing and playing the lute, possibly due to training by Tuttovale Menon. Early on, the Stampa household became a literary club, visited by many well-known Venetian writers, painters and musicians. There is evidence that Gaspara herself was a musician who performed madrigals of her own composition. When her brother died in 1544, Stampa suffered greatly and formed the intention of becoming a nun. However, after a long period of crisis, she came back to "la dolce vita" (the sweet life) in Venice. In 1550, Stampa became a member of the Accademia dei Dubbiosi under the name of "Anaxilla." At this time, she began a love affair with Count Collaltino di Collalto. It was to him that she eventually dedicated most of the 311 poems she is known to have written. The count's interest apparently cooled, perhaps in part due to his many voyages out of Venice. The relationship broke off in 1551. Stampa went into a physic

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