Pimentel, Eleonora (c. 1768–1799)

Italian patriot. Name variations: Marchesa de Fonseca; Marquesa of Fonseca. Born Eleonora Pimentel in Rome around 1768 or possibly 1758; raised in Naples; executed in Naples on July 20, 1799; married the marquis of Fonseca, in 1784.

The heroine and martyr of the 1799 Neapolitan uprising, Eleonora Pimentel was born in Rome around 1768 and raised in Naples, where she was a poet and part of the city's literati. She was also an Italian patriot who sympathized with the French republicans (the Jacobins), and was an active follower of the popular party of Naples. After serving time in prison in 1798, she founded and edited the anti-royalist newspaper Monitore Napoletano. Upon the restoration of the Neapolitan monarchy, however, she was executed along with other revolutionaries, signaling, in the minds of many historians, the end of liberalism in southern Italy. "The liberal elites came out of the woodwork and were cut down and decimated," said Patrice Higgonet, a professor of French and European history at Harvard University. "It didn't affect the course of European history, but for Italy it was as if Madison and Jefferson had been hung after the Battle of Trenton."

Although Pimentel has long been revered by Italian leftists and feminists, general interest in her was renewed with the release in 1993 of an Italian-language biography by Maria Macciocchi , entitled Cara Eleonora. The Pimentel legend was also revisited that year by American writer Susan Sontag , who quoted Pimentel's final testament in The Volcano Lover: A Romance, a novel about Lord Horatio Nelson and Lady Emma Hamilton set in 18th-century Naples. In January 1999, however, mere interest erupted into controversy with the premier of the new opera Eleonora at the San Carlo opera house in Naples. Starring Vanessa Redgrave in the title role, the opera reopened old political wounds, unleashing heated debates and angry demonstrations. On opening night, local royalists passed out leaflets that read "Jacobin Assassins!"

The opera, written and directed by Italy's Roberto De Simone, was created to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Neapolitan uprising, and was intended to use the tragic moment in Neapolitan history as a universal protest against the death penalty. "I find the piece tremendously inspiring," said Redgrave, whose readings from Leo Tolstoy, Thomas Mann, and Bertolt Brecht were woven amid the 18th-century religious music of the opera. "It is against the death penalty by any government for any reason."

sources:

Stanley, Alessandra. "Arts Abroad," in The New York Times. January 13, 1999.

suggested reading:

Macciocchi, Maria. Cara Eleonora, 1993.

related media:

Eleonora (opera), starring Vanessa Redgrave , opened at the San Carlo opera house, January 1999.