Missionary Printing — Sisters of the Sodalizio of St Peter Claver preparing the press for printing pamphlets and magazines in African indigenous languages — Nettuno.
STAMPA, GASPARA. — Poetess, b. at Padua in 1523, d. at Venice on 23 Apr. 1554. Daughter of a Paduan jeweller, after his death she moved with her mother to Venice, where she studied Greek and Latin under Fortunio Spira, music and singing under Pieriscon Cambio; she took part in the Compagnia dei Dubbiosi and in the Accademia dei Pellegrini under the name of Anassilla.
Her “ridotto” was the most frequented by humanists, artists and poets in the decade 1540-50. In 1548 she fell in love with Collatino di Collato, “the cruel fair count” of the Trevigiana Marches, a mediocre man. Abandoned by her idol, G. S. sought comfort in God (“Dolce Signor, non mi lasciar perire”), but also in earthly loves. She died the following year. “I burned, I wept, I sang” was the brief life of the passionate woman. Romantic writers made her an innocent victim of love, positivist writers a courtesan. Extreme opinions stem from two critics: A. Salza and G. A. Cesareo. The latter defended madonna Gasperina with good reasons. Though uneven, her lyric output is among the best of the 16th century for the sincerity of its passion and the power of its expression. In some love and faith lyrics it rises above autobiographism and Platonism.
MISSIONARY PRINTING