The man, the man and the man again, with that somewhat bold and somewhat good-natured air that grants grace, as Elena's father granted it Lucrezia Corner Piscopia, which the archives of the University of Padua tell us was there first woman university graduate in the world: we are in June of the year 1.678.
So tell the chronicles of the time, but you can read the story in the magnificent article published in Woman's Blog of the weekend magazine of art and culture MANIFESTO12 signed by Muriella Frisiero.
I, on the other hand, wonder what has changed since then if we think of women's emancipation, in the sense that despite the goals achieved and the undisputed skills in all fields, successful women are still considered an exception. A tiring and continuous conquest of women, which sees them struggle to assert their role in a society, free from any hypocrisy, still too male-dominated. A society governed by the man who bestowed generosity and benevolence on them (the women), but only when he had lost the game. Perhaps only Ataturk, in Turkey, in 1934 invested them with a surprise vote without claims by Turkish women, but the reason was that he wanted to amaze the world and go down in history as the greatest reformer of the country.
In Italy, the law on women's quotas was signed in a solemn and ceremonious manner, but it was only yesterday, or rather February 3, 2016, that the Chamber definitively approved the law on the balance of women with 334 Yes, 91 No and 21 abstentions. gender representation in the Regional Councils. It is a pity, however, that 339 years have "just" passed since the University of Padua recognized Elena Lucrezia Corner Piscopia, the title of Master e Doctrix.
The first female graduate in the world is Elena Lucrezia Corner Piscopia and she was a Venetian.
We are in 25 June 1678 and there is great excitement in front of the University of Padua, the chronicles say even 30.000 people, to attend the discussion of the thesis of the first woman in the world who will boast the titles of Magistra and Doctrix. The crowd is so numerous that it is decided to move the ceremony to the chapel of the Blessed Virgin in the Cathedral.
She is a patrician, daughter of Giovanni Battista Corner, Procurator of the Republic of San Marco, Piscopia because her branch of the Corder family owned the fiefdom of Episkopi on the island of Cyprus. The environment in which she grows up is serene, culturally rich and stimulating. Her father's library is remarkable for the quantity of volumes and subjects covered, in particular history and politics of which Giovanni Battista is a great scholar. Many learned personalities of the time pass by to visit and stop to study.
Elena is a little genius and the first to notice it is the confessor and family friend, Don Giovanni Battista Fabris parish priest of San Luca, who advises her father to let her undertake classical studies, an unheard-of practice for the time which excluded women from culture .
But we are in the enlightened Venetian Republic and here things can change.
Corner, taking a decidedly nonconformist position, offers Elena the opportunity to study. Through her and the prestige she will acquire, he sees a way to restore to his house, among the richest and most illustrious in Venice, the enamel lost due to his family situation as a man happily not married to a common woman, Zanetta Boni, mother of his five children, whom he will marry after the birth of Elena.
At the age of seven, in 1653, the girl began studying Latin with Don Fabris who followed her for fifteen years. She is a very graceful young girl, of medium height and well proportioned, she has a fair complexion, dark and penetrating eyes, brown curls frame a spacious forehead full of nobility.
Corner spares no expense and summons the best minds of the time for his daughter's education.
At the age of 22 he began studying Greek with the best Greek scholar in Venice, Alvise Grandenigo, who is the Keeper of the Library of San Marco. His tutor is the Jesuit Carlo Maurizio Vota, he speaks French, German, English and Spanish perfectly and with an appropriate accent, and Shemuel Aboaf, chief rabbi of Venice, will teach her Hebrew and lead her to examine the sacred texts.
Like any good young patrician, Elena studied music profitably. Her teacher is the organist Maddalena Capelli who will become her closest friend and will also follow her to Padua to cure and assist her until her death.
In Europe she is already a celebrity, admired and sought after, the best known writers from all over come to visit her to discuss science, philosophy and theology with her.
The story continues in MANIFESTO12
