Isotta Nogarola

Isotta Nogarola (1418–1466) was an Italian writer and intellectual. She was passionate about her education, and became one of the most famous female humanists of the Italian Renaissance, inspiring generations of female artists and writers. Her most influential work was a literary dialogue, "Dialogue on Adam and Eve", in which she discussed the relative sinfulness of Adam and Eve, contributing to a centuries-long debate in Europe on gender and the nature of woman.

Born into a well-to-do family in Verona, Italy, she was one of ten siblings, seven of which survived into adulthood. During Nogarola's life, Italy was going through its Renaissance. A new appreciation for art, education, and enriching culture surrounded Italians. Politically, Italy was divided into city-states ruled by extremely wealthy families; Genoa, Florence, and Venice are examples.

Men ruled all political procession, and in that time, there was no place for women in public society. Young boys studied humanism, which began in Florence in the 14th century and spread throughout Italy, and was the contemporary learning style for the wealthy. By focusing on works of ancient Rome and Greece, scholars believed humanist education would produce the most well equipped men with the best understanding of knowledge. Schools were set up to teach poetry, grammar, rhetoric, history, and moral philosophy, which would aid any boy in his future in politics. To become an actual humanist, a young man would have to send a letter to an already respected man of the field, and wait for a reply. If the response yielded endorsements and compliments for the prospective pupil, he would spread this news and gain the ground to begin his career.

Nogarola's mother, a widow, allowed her and her sister to be educated and therefore received an education from one of the finest teachers of the time. Her first tutor was Martino Rizzoni, who had been taught by the famous Guarino da Verona, one of the most forward humanist thinkers. Nogarola and her sisters received relatively the same education that a boy in a well-to-do-family would have received, excluding rhetoric, which was considered irrelevant for a woman to learn considering their lack of participation in public life in the male-dominated society.

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