«Il mio terren natio cangiai / con quel, cui piacque al ciel donarmi in sorte»: il mini-canzoniere di Eleonora de la Ravoire Falletti (1559) nelle Rime di donne di Lodovico domenichi

Abstract

Eleonora Falletti, originally from the Savoy region, lived in Melazzo and in the city of Savona. Eleonora is an interesting character in the panorama of women Petrarchist writers. She personified the allegory of «Virtue» in the Imagini of Betussi (1556), and she is at the centre of the dialogue that takes her name, the Leonora (1557), penned by the same author and based at her small court in Melazzo, in the Montferrat area. In 1559, she reappears as the author of a substantial corpus of sonnets, consisting of 21 poems, printed in the Rime di donne verse anthology edited by Lodovico Domenichi. This article focuses on the character of Eleonora as it is incorporated in contemporary treatises; on her relationship with the Phoenicians’ Academy of Milan; and on the chansonnier of the poetess in the Rime di donne. This includes autobiographical and amorous sonnets and poems with a more symbolic and rarefied perspective around the theme of the alma pianta.