Eminent Italian Women Trivia Quiz

Answer: Baroque painter

A very strong woman indeed. She became famous as a painter in the XVIIth century, when women were supposed to do other things. She was the first woman to be admitted to the "Accademia di Arte del Disegno" (Academy of the Art of Drawing) in Florence.
Among her most famous paintings, "Jael and Sisera" and "Judith Slaying Holofernes" show men murdered by women. Maybe this theme was inspired by the fact that Artemisia was raped at 18, still a virgin. Artemisia and her father pressed charges and the rapist was condemned to exile.

Answer: Nobel Prize for Literature.

Grazia Deledda (1871-1936) was the first Italian woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize, in 1926.
Born in Sardinia, most of her novels are staged in the island, focusing mostly on the hard life of peasants and customs of Sardinian people. Her most famous book is "Canne al Vento" (Rushes in the Wind), published in 1913.

Answer: Queen Consort of France

Caterina, or Catherine (1519-1589), was a member of the powerful and noble Medici family of Florence. She married Henry II of France and mothered three Kings: Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III. They reigned over France, but she ruled, actually: she was so powerful that historians have defined her age "The Age of Catherine de Medici". A ruthless ruler, she inspired the infamous St .Bartholomew's Night Massacre of Huguenots in 1572.

Answer: Nobel Prize in Medicine

Born in 1909, she reached the ripe age of 103 enjoying, late in life, a large popularity among the Italian public. Born into a Jewish family, she had to endure persecution from 1938 until 1945. After the war, she continued her research in St. Louis and in Rome, and she became a Nobel Laureate in 1986. During her career, she earned many other awards and honors. The last one was in 2011, when she was appointed as Senator for Life, becoming part of the Italian Senate.

Answer: Actress

Ok: she's Sophia Loren. The "ph" was added to give an exotic flavour, but her real name is Sofia: and not even Loren, but Villani Scicolone. Her sister married the son of Benito Mussolini, so she is somehow a relative of "il Duce". An icon of Italian beauty, she could have married anyone: but instead of marrying one (or more) fascinating movie stars, she happily tied the knot with her producer Carlo Ponti, 22 years her senior. Probably her best performances were directed by Vittorio de Sica: "La Ciociara", "Matrimonio all'Italiana", "L'Oro di Napoli".

She won two Oscars...what else? A real star.

Answer: President of the Indian National Congress

Edvige Antonia Albina Maino was born in Lusiana (Veneto, Northern Italy) in 1946. She met Rajiv Gandhi in Cambridge, married him and became Indira Gandhi daughter-in-law.
She lost her Italian citizenship when she became an Indian citizen. In 2004 she was proposed as Prime Minister of India but declined. Still she remains in the early XXIst century, according to political observers, one of the most powerful women in the world.

Answer: Saint

Well, this woman talked with God. Or so they believed in the XIVth century. For sure, she had a very strong influence on the Catholic Church and on the political scene of the time: she used to write very convincing letters to the big shots of her age; allegedly, her complaints were decisive to bring back the Papal See to Rome from Avignon.

Besides writing letters and acting occasionally as a Papal legate, she prayed, fasted, and led such a harsh life of penance that she died in 1380 at 33. In 1461 she was canonized, and in 1970 she was declared "Doctor of the Church" (first woman, along with Teresa of Avila).

Answer: Singer

Italian pop musicians were never really successful in the English-language market. Laura Pausini (born 1974) is no exception: still, she is probably the best selling Italian female pop singer of all times. Beside her huge popularity in Italy, she is a star in many other European and South American countries.
Her career took off when she won the newcomer section of the "Festival di Sanremo", the main musical and television event in Italy, with the song "La Solitudine". Spanish has become her second language, since all her songs have a Spanish version and have earned many Latin Grammy Awards.

Answer: Architect

Gaetana Aulenti (1927-2012): if you don't know her, you probably know her works. Some examples:
Musée d'Orsay in Paris, Museum of Asian Arts in San Francisco, National Museum of Modern Arts in the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Renovation of Palazzo Grassi in Venice, Museu nacional d'art de Catalunya in Barcelona, Italian Institute of Culture in Tokyo, restyling of Cadorna Square in Milan.

Answer: Educator and pedagogue

Born in 1870, she got a degree in medicine at the University of Rome - not a common achievement for a woman at the time in Italy. In 1907 she established a school called "Children's House" where she started her scientific observations on young students chosen among the poorest classes.
This was the beginning of the development of her educational method, the "Metodo Montessori" based on self-directed activity, hands-on learning and collaborative play. By the end of the second decade of the XXIst century there were about 60,000 schools inspired by Montessori Method.