Moderata Fonte

(1555 - 1592)

Born Modesta Pozzo in Venice in 1555 to a wealthy family, Moderata Fonte adopted her pseudonym, which in Latin means “moderate fountain,” a cognate of her Italian name. She was orphaned as an infant and educated herself in childhood largely through her grandparents’ library and her brother’s school lessons. She began writing early in life, and at the age of twenty-six published her first major work, a chivalric poem about the Medici family. Her uncle, in a biography, noted that this text was the last she worked on, completing it the day before she died.