Marianna Marquesa Florenzi

Marianna Bacinetti, known by her married name as Marchioness Florenzi, was born in Ravenna in 1802 and died in Florence in 1870. An Italian noblewoman trained in philosophy, she translated Leibniz and Schelling into Italian and became one of the notable female voices of idealist thought in nineteenth-century Italy.

Raised in a count's family, she received a broad literary education and took part in cultural salons. She married the marquis Ettore Florenzi in 1819 and, after being widowed in 1833, wed the Englishman Evelyn Waddington in 1836. She studied natural sciences at the University of Perugia, an unusual path for a woman of her time. Her long friendship with King Ludwig I of Bavaria led her to learn German and engage with German culture.

Her thinking moved from the circle of Schelling towards Hegelianism, and she later drew closer to Victor Cousin. She published philosophical works between 1840 and 1868, among them Philosophical Thoughts, and in 1850 a critique of socialism and communism that was placed on the Index of prohibited books. Her villa at Colombella became a meeting place for patriots, writers and scholars, and her liberal politics earned her the disfavour of the papal government.

Her reputation was revived only after her death, when Giovanni Gentile recognised her contribution to the idealist debate and her speculative originality.