Explore the life and writing of Vittoria Colonna, Marchesa di Pescara, the first woman in Italy to have a book of her own poems published. What did it mean for a woman to be a writer in 16th-century Italy? How did Colonna conceive of her role as a love poet and, later, as a devotional poet? How did her close friendship with Michelangelo shape her creative work? Discover the answers to these and other questions about one of Renaissance Italy’s most fascinating figures.

Ramie Targoff, Jehuda Reinharz Professor of the Humanities, Brandeis University