Clara Stella
@uio.no
History of Ideas
University of Oslo
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Early modern women writers in Italy
Circulation of texts books
Hagiography, spiritual poetry, hagiographical narratives
Women's contribution to early modern history of knowledge
The nexus between literary production and Christian humanism
Scopus Publications
Scopus Publications
Clara Stella
Amsterdam University Press
The interaction between religious literary production and self-expression offers a challenge to the long-held perceptions that religious models silence women’s voices into fixed submissive categories. This chapter focuses on the cases of Laura Cereta, Vittoria Colonna, and Chiara Matraini to demonstrate that the religious sphere enabled them to take on leading roles as teachers and distinguished interpreters of the social and cultural changes through which they lived, to the point that, in the counter-reformation climate, Matraini was able to assert, for the first time in literary history, her role as the proud autrice, the creator, of her own work.
Clara Stella
MDPI AG
This essay examines the interplay between politics and religion through the lens of correspondence between the future Pope Paul IV and his sister Maria Carafa, largely published in 1670 in Francesco Maria Maggio’s Life of the Venerable Maria Carafa. The analysis reveals how Carafa strategically used this epistolary relationship to shape his public image and religious–political agenda. The letters serve as a carefully crafted narrative tool. Carafa’s portrayal of himself as a leader seeking spiritual guidance from his saintly sister can be interpreted as a calculated political move to legitimize his religious authority and reform initiatives. This correspondence thus becomes a nexus where personal piety and public policy intersect. Maria Carafa’s writings, reconstructed in absentia, offer a perspective on the religious–political landscape of the time. Her role as both sister and spiritual mother to the future pope challenges traditional gender hierarchies within the Church, while also serving Carafa’s narrative of divine guidance for his actions.
Celestina Fazia, Cristina Natoli, and Clara Stella Vicari Aversa
Universidad Politecnica de Madrid - University Library
El distrito lanero en la ciudad piamontesa de Biella, Italia, es un ejemplo significativo de industrialización que se desarrolló en el contexto de un valle rural, donde coexistieron actividades manufactureras, asentamientos dispersos y un valioso paisaje natural. La disponibilidad de recursos hídricos y la ubicación estratégica favorecieron el crecimiento de un sistema de producción integrado, que sustentó la economía local y contribuyó a conformar la identidad cultural de la zona durante más de un siglo. Sin embargo, la crisis del sector textil ha provocado el cierre o el abandono de la mayoría de las fábricas, dejando un patrimonio industrial en decadencia, con consecuencias socioeconómicas y medioambientales negativas. El actual estado de abandono del distrito de la lana plantea importantes cuestiones sobre cómo regenerar y reutilizar estas infraestructuras, para devolverles una función útil y estratégica para el territorio. La reutilización de espacios productivos en desuso presenta importantes oportunidades para estimular el desarrollo sostenible, promoviendo actividades culturales, turísticas y empresariales que puedan poner en valor el patrimonio existente. Esta contribución analiza las perspectivas de regeneración del distrito de la lana de Biella, examinando ejemplos virtuosos de reutilización a escala europea y proponiendo estrategias de intervención para reconectar el patrimonio industrial con las dinámicas económicas y sociales actuales.
Clara Stella
University of Toronto Libraries - UOTL
This article proposes a way of reading Vittoria Colonna’s lyric persona in the light of Catherine of Siena’s religious writings and philosophy of the self. In part 1, I begin by tracing the mystic profile that the participants of Colonna’s reformed circles ascribed to the saint. Those descriptions are then incorporated into a comparison of the schisms that shaped Christianity in Catherine’s times, namely the Avignon Papacy, and those of the Lutheran Reformation. In part 2, Colonna’s sacred charisma(s) is related to Catherine’s penitential and political model, thus identifying her Vita and epistles as a very possible literary source that Colonna could have used in her religious output and self-identification. In part 3, I analyze Colonna’s exegesis of the penitent Magdalene in the light of Catherine’s political reading of the same character. To conclude, I discuss the ways in which we can integrate the Trecento tradition into Colonna’s conception of grace and prophetic message of renovatio.
Clara Stella
Informa UK Limited
ABSTRACT The Rime di donne, printed in 1559, is the first Italian verse anthology dedicated entirely to female poets. This article offers a detailed reading of the image and role that Vittoria Colonna plays in the anthology, drawing comparisons with Pietro Bembo’s function in the Libro primo of 1545. It suggests that the Rime di donne’s editorial strategies codify Colonna as the female equivalent to Bembo, presenting her as the exemplary exponent of Petrarchan style for contemporary women poets. The article first examines two sonnets that Marguerite d’Angoulême addressed to Colonna, exploring how those highlight Colonna’s stylistic and spiritual primacy within the anthology. Secondly, it analyses the poems the editor chose to represent Colonna herself. Finally, it shows ways in which the anthology can be regarded as a testimony to the poetic and stylistic legacy of Colonna with respect to the construction of the female poetic persona for the poets anthologised.