Compiuta Donzella

Who is Compiuta Donzella?

Compiuta Donzella, called either di Firenze or Fiorentina, was the earliest woman poet of the Italian language, active in the second half of the 13th century. Three of her sonnets survive in a single manuscript, and one is half of a tenzone. Compiuta may be her given name, but more probably a senhal. Her full name translates "the accomplished young lady from Florence". Her existence was once in doubt and she was considered a construct of the poets, but this view has been discarded.

In A la stagion che 'l mondo foglia e fiora, Compiuta complains of her father's choice of a husband for her. She is miserable at springtime, when other lovers are rejoicing. In Lasciar voria lo mondo e Dio servire, she bemoans the state of the world: lack of nobility, meanness of spirit, and dishonesty. She desires to enter a convent, but her father will not let her. In her only tenzone, Ornato di gran pregio e di valenza, with an admiring man who wishes to meet her, she responds with pleasant interest. The famous Italian poet Guittone d'Arezzo, who mentions her by name in his fifth letter, may have addressed it to her.