Faustina Maratti
Encyclopedia
Biography
Maratti was born in RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, the natural daughter of the painter Carlo Maratta
Carlo Maratta
Carlo Maratta or Maratti was an Italian painter, active mostly in Rome, and known principally for his classicizing paintings executed in a Late Baroque Classical manner. Although he is part of the classical tradition stemming from Raphael, he was not exempt from the influence of Baroque painting...
(or Maratti). From an early age, she received a good education, which included music, fine arts and, above all, poetry. Her beauty attracted the attention of Giangiorgio Sforza Cesarini, a cadet son of the Duke of Genzano
Genzano di Roma
Genzano di Roma is a town and comune in the province of Rome, in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is one of the Castelli Romani, at a distance of 29 km from Rome, on the Alban Hills.-History:The origin of the name Genzano is still disputed...
, near Rome, where Maratta had retired. After her refusal, Sforza Cesarini tried to kidnap her. He failed, and was forced to leave to Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
and then to Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
In 1704, her heroic resistance gained her a place in the Arcadia Literary Academy, under the name of Aglauro Cidonia. Here she met the poet Giambattista Felice Zappi
Giambattista Felice Zappi
Giambattista Felice Zappi was an Italian poet.-Biography:A native of Imola, he studied there and then in Bologna, where he graduated at only 13 under Giuseppe Ulisse Gozzadini, bishop of Imola and later cardinal. In 1687 he moved to Rome, where he worked as lawyer. Pope Innocent XII gave him...
, a lawyer from Imola
Imola
thumb|250px|The Cathedral of Imola.Imola is a town and comune in the province of Bologna, located on the Santerno river, in the Emilia-Romagna region of north-central Italy...
whom she married in 1705. Their house became a renowned literary circle, people attending included, among the others, Georg Friedrich Händel, Domenico Scarlatti
Domenico Scarlatti
Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti was an Italian composer who spent much of his life in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families. He is classified as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical style...
, Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina
Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina
Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina was an Italian man of letters and jurist. He was born at Roggiano Gravina, a small town near Cosenza, in Calabria....
and Giovanni Mario Crescimbeni
Giovanni Mario Crescimbeni
Giovanni Mario Crescimbeni was an Italian critic and poet. Crescimbeni was born in Macerata, which was then part of the Papal States....
. The two had two sons: Rinaldo in 1709 (who died two years later) and Luigi in 1712. She became a widow in 1719.
Her works include 38 sonnets published in her husband's Rime collection in 1723. They are in Petrarchesque
Petrarca
Petrarca may refer to:* Petrarch, the English name for Francesco Petrarca , Italian scholar, poet, and Renaissance humanist* David Petrarca , director at the Goodman Theatre* Petrarca Rugby, an Italian rugby union club...
style, according to the rules established by the poetry theorist Crescimbeni. Some of them are inspired by her father's works, while others pivot around female figures of the Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
.