California Italian Studies

Abigail Brundin has recently speculated that Vittoria Colonna, who was one of the most important poets of the Italian Renaissance, has received relatively little attention from women who study early modern women because of her unappealing image as a “secular nun.” If that is the case, Kenneth Gouwens’ first English translation and edition of Paolo Giovio’s Latin dialogue De viris ac foeminis aetate nostra florentibus with its panegyrical but at times prurient portrait of Vittoria Colonna should pump new life into Colonna studies.