Tullia d'Aragona

Tullia d'Aragona (about 1501 to 1556) was an Italian poet, author and philosopher of the Renaissance, born in Rome to Giulia Campana, a celebrated courtesan. A cardinal she and her admirers named as her father gave her a classical education in the humanities, and she grew up a child prodigy. She travelled through Venice, Ferrara, Siena and Florence before returning to Rome, and became one of the most celebrated poet-courtesans of her day, in a time when scholars still debated whether women were capable of serious philosophical thought. Her work influenced thinkers including Benedetto Varchi. In Venice she composed the Dialogues on the Infinity of Love (1547), a Neo-Platonist assertion of women's sexual and emotional autonomy in romantic exchange that cast a woman as the main speaker on the ethics of love.