Seventy-eight statues are distributed in Prato della Valle, the largest square in Italy and one of the largest in all of Europe. The monuments honor personalities such as scientist Galileo Galilei, poet Francesco Petrarca, sculptor Antonio Canova and various popes.
All honorees have some connection with Padua, either because they were born, lived or because they developed ties with the city in northern Italy. And all are men.
The deficit in female representation is not exclusive to Padua. In all of Italy, there are only 148 statues representing women, be they real, legendary or anonymous — like the “sexy” peasant warrior woman erected in Sapri, in the south of the country. The survey is by Mi Riconosci, an Italian association of professionals in the cultural heritage sector.
Based on this census of statues and influenced by the global wave of historical revision of monuments, Margherita Colonnello and Simone Pillitteri, two center-left councilors from Padua, proposed that the square be the new home for a sculpture in honor of Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia (1646-1684), the first woman in the world to receive a university degree.
“Perhaps not everyone knows that the figures to whom the stone effigies are dedicated are all, without exception, men,” the pair wrote in a motion presented to the Padua Legislature.
Piscopia was born in Venice, the daughter of a nobleman and a peasant. The Brittanica encyclopedia tells that she started taking Greek and Latin lessons at the age of seven and later became fluent in French, Spanish and Hebrew as well.
In addition to being a polyglot, Piscopia also studied mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, music and theology — the latter being the area in which he specialized. At the age of 26, she was recommended by one of her tutors to the University of Padua. The idea was that the institution would grant Piscopia the title of doctor in theology.
At the time, the bishop of Padua, who was also responsible for the university, supported Piscopia’s request, but only because he understood that what she was looking for was a doctorate in philosophy. When Cardinal Gregorio Barbarigo understood that the goal was a degree in theology, he denied the request because Piscopia was a woman.
Although upset, she then continued her studies in philosophy and obtained a doctorate in the field in 1678. In defense of her thesis, Piscopia had to break down, in Latin, two texts by Aristotle chosen at random — which she did masterfully, making become the first doctor in the world.
According to Brittanica, Piscopia lived another six years after earning his degree, during which time he continued to devote himself to academic studies and religious actions aimed at the poor. When he died, aged 38, his funeral was marked by ceremonies in Venice, Padua, Siena and Rome.
Despite its pioneering spirit and its links with Padua, Piscopia did not win a statue in Prato della Valle. At least not until now.
When it was built in the 18th century, the square had 88 sculptures. Ten of them were destroyed when Napoleon conquered Venice. Eight have been replaced by obelisks, and two plinths remain empty — and it is one on which councilors want to place the statue in honor of Piscopia.
For Federica Arcoraci, an art historian linked to Mi Riconosci, Prato della Valle’s exclusively male training has an impact on the collective imagination. “Obviously, this was the result of a particular trend in history. But today it is possible to make a project that is connected to the square’s history as a whole,” Arcoraci told British newspaper The Guardian.
The historian also explains that the original project for the square in Padua prohibited statues of saints, living people and people with no links to the city. There were never any restrictions against women.
Even so, there are those who oppose giving up one of the empty pedestals to Piscopia’s memory. Carlo Fumian, professor of history at the University of Padua, described the idea as “out of context”. For him, the project to honor the first doctor is “expensive and bizarre”, as well as “a little modern, but culturally inconsistent”.
“Move monuments as if they were [peças de] Lego is a dangerous and unintelligent game,” Fumian told local newspaper Il Mattino di Padova. [estátua] original, triumphantly seated at the university”.
The professor makes reference to the monument already erected in honor of Piscopia. The statue was built at the request of the academic’s father in 1684, the same year of her death. Almost a century later, in 1773, it was donated to the University of Padua, where it remains on display at Palazzo Bo, the institution’s historic seat. The councilors’ proposal is to move it to Prato della Valle.
Other opponents of the idea of ​​placing Piscopia in the square claim that the pedestals must remain empty precisely because they represent the historic moment of the invasion of the city by Napoleon’s troops.
According to the Guardian, the cultural heritage superintendent in Padua does not rule out the idea of ​​honoring a woman in the largest square in the country, but in this case, he would prefer to revere a more recent female figure.
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