Maria Alinda Bonacci Brunamonti (21 August 1841 – 3 February 1903) was an Italian poet and scholar. Her poetry dealt with contemporary issues, and she became the first woman in Italy to vote. Bonacci Brunamonti published her first poetry aged 14. Her motto was ''innovare serbando'' ("innovation through conservation"). Bonacci Brunamonti's poetry explored conflicts, such as the 1859 Perugia uprising, the

Battle of Magenta The Battle of Magenta was fought on 4 June 1859 near the town of Magenta in the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, a crown land of the Austrian Empire, during the Second Italian War of Independence. It resulted in a French-Sardinian victory under ...

and the

Battle of Solferino The Battle of Solferino (referred to in Italy as the Battle of Solferino and San Martino) on 24 June 1859 resulted in the victory of the allied Second French Empire, French army under Napoleon III and the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, Piedmont- ...

. As a devout

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, she dedicated some of her works to

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

. Her poetry used classical metre and verse structures. Bonacci Brunamonti was forced to stop writing following a stroke in 1897. On 9 November 1860, she was permitted to vote in a plebiscite regarding the annexation of

Marche Marche ( ; ), in English sometimes referred to as the Marches ( ) from the Italian name of the region (Le Marche), is one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. The region is located in the Central Italy, central area of the country, ...

and

Umbria Umbria ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region of central Italy. It includes Lake Trasimeno and Cascata delle Marmore, Marmore Falls, and is crossed by the Tiber. It is the only landlocked region on the Italian Peninsula, Apennine Peninsula. The re ...

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

, due to her political poetry. She was the first woman in Italy to vote. Her father was Gratiliano Bonacci (1802–1871), a lawyer and professor of rhetoric. Born Maria Alinda Bonacci, she married Pietro Brunamonti in 1868. Bonacci Brunamonti was born in and died in

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

, and she lived there for much of her life, also frequently visiting her father's birthplace of

Recanati Recanati () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Macerata, in the Italian region of Marche. Recanati was founded around 1150 AD from three pre-existing castles. In 1290 it proclaimed itself an independent republic and, in the 15th c ...

. Bonacci Brunamonti taught at the

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...

. She was a

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...

painter of flowers and plants.

References

. * C. Pigorini Beri (1909). ''Maria Alinda Bonacci Brunamonti. Reminiscenze'', in Nuova Antologia, XLIV (vol. 147, fasc. 907), pp. 473–84. * P. Pimpinelli (1989). ''Alinda Bonacci Brunamonti ovvero Una massaia in Parnaso'', Tibergraph, Città di Castello. * L.M. Reale, ''Maria Alinda Bonacci Brunamonti, il dialetto, le tradizioni popolari e la Flora Umbra (con appendice di testi e glossario)'', in Contributi di Filologia dell'Italia Mediana, voll. XI (1997) and XII (1998), pp. 195–236 e 127-167. * C. Peducci (2012). ''Maria Alinda Bonacci Brunamonti : i discorsi d'arte : un esempio del gusto fin de siècle''. * F. Ciacci, edited by G. D'Elia (2015). ''L'archivio di'' ''Maria Alinda Bonacci Brunamonti. Inventario'' , Edizioni della Soprintendenza archivistica dell'Umbria e delle Marche. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonacci Brunamonti, Maria Alinda Bonacci Brunamonti, Maria Alinda Bonacci Brunamonti, Maria Alinda Bonacci Brunamonti, Maria Alinda Bonacci Brunamonti, Maria Alinda 19th-century Italian women writers Italian Roman Catholics

References

Further reading