Laura Battiferri

Laura Battiferri (1523–1589), also called Laura Battiferri Ammanati, was an Italian poet during the Renaissance period. She was born in Urbino, Italy as the illegitimate daughter of Giovanni Antonio Battiferri and Maddalena Coccapani of Carpi. She published two books of poetry: The First Book of Tuscan Works (Florence, 1560) and The Seven Penitential Psalms… with some Spiritual Sonnets (Florence, 1564). She died in 1589 while compiling a third, Rime, which was never published. She married the sculptor, Bartolomeo Ammannati in 1550 and they remained married until death.

Laura Battiferri was born in Urbino, Italy. Her father was a wealthy cleric and nobleman of Urbino named Giovanni Antonio Battiferri and her mother was Maddalena Coccapani of Carpi, his concubine. Giovanni enjoyed many privileges due to his status within the inner Vatican circle and as a “familiar” of Pope Paul III. Laura was born into a high social position and cosmopolitan wealth. Her father ensured her education, resulting in her literary familiarity with Latin, love of vernacular classics, and companionship with the Bible. Despite her illegitimate birth, Giovanni recognized Laura as his daughter and had her and two of his other children legitimized by Pope Paul III on February 9, 1543 and eventually, she would become his rightful heir. As she became an adult, she was well versed in literature, philosophy, and religion.

Laura’s first husband was Vittorio Sereni, a court organist. After about five years of marriage, he died in 1549. Laura was devastated. Sonnet 240 from The First Book of Tuscan Works expressed her grief. (Translated from Italian to English):

     As the sun disappears and the shadows
descend from the mountain top
and human cares drop away, one by one,
leaving hearts tranquil,
death and cruel fate fill me with anguish,
rest refuses to come to my tired heart,
and I pass my hours and nights crying
with tears in my heart as well as my eyes.

     Alas when I see the cornucopia filled
with fruit and flowers, when I see the faithful friends
Flora and Ceres, the one carrying roses at her breast,
the other, mature wheat,
and the peasant boy coming from the fields
carrying the rewards of his hard work
I say with tearful eyes: are loss and mourning now
to be forever the fruit of my hopes?

As a result, she moved to a Battiferri family home in Rome. While living in Rome, she met her second husband, Bartolomeo Ammannati (1511-1592), a sculptor from Florence, through mutual connections in Vatican circles. Although it is suspected that her father assisted in their meeting. On April 17, 1550, she remarried at age 26 to Bartolomeo Ammannati at the Casa Santa in Loreto. She brought an unusually large dowry to the marriage, 2,000 scudi, about 10 times that of a typical bride of the time. However, Laura’s dowry was probably never been paid in full and remained listed as an “unsettled matter” at the death of Laura’s father.

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