Aragona, Tullia d' (1510–1556)
Aragona, Tullia d' (1510–1556)
Italian poet. Born in 1510 in Italy; died in Italy in 1556.
Born into the Italian nobility, Tullia d'Aragona was a highly educated woman who showed great creative ability. Instead of marrying young, as did most of her contemporaries, she moved through Italian aristocratic society as a cortegiana onesta, or "honest courtesan." Acquainted with the leading artists and politicians of her time, she traveled extensively across Italy and became a model of the intellectual, artistic courtesan. At age 33, she married, probably to escape the many laws promulgated against courtesans. She continued to write prolifically, and her first book of poetry, Rhymes, was published in 1547. In 1552, her Dialogue on the Infinity of Love was printed, and her last major book, Meschino, Otherwise Known as Guerrino, was published four years after her death.