Tullia d' Aragona

Born in Rome sometime between 1501 and 1505, Tullia d'Aragona became one of the best-known literary women of sixteenth-century Italy. She moved through cultural centers including Venice, Ferrara, Siena, Florence, and Rome, building a reputation not only as a courtesan but also as a serious writer and intellectual.

She is best remembered for her poetry and for Dialogue on the Infinity of Love, published in 1547. In that work, she joined a major Renaissance debate about love and desire, arguing with a confidence and independence that helped set her apart from many of her contemporaries.

Tullia d'Aragona died in 1556. Her life has remained compelling because she crossed boundaries that were rarely open to women of her time, turning personal experience, learning, and social wit into lasting literature.