Francisca Saragoni was a famous Italian political prisoner during the Renaissance. She was born to an Italian aristocratic family and was educated at a very young age, going to the University of Padua, specializing in Italian grammar, and philosophy. She was married four times, first to Donatello d’Amatrice, the second to Scaliger, the third to Guido Della Vitelli and the fourth to Flavio da Sangallo. She was imprisoned for her opinions regarding the deposition of the Medici, although she never followed through on that. She died in prison at the age of sixty-three.
Francisca was a respected member of the Italian nobility, being called the Queen of the Court by her husband, Donatello. She was also known for her beauty, wit, eloquence, courage, and intelligence. Her rise to prominence was due in large part to her imprisonment, which is said to have prepared her for political activism at a later date.
She had no formal training as a writer, but had spent many years working as a secretary and writing letters to her husband. As such, she had a wide vocabulary and the ability to speak at length about varied topics. Her political writings helped to popularize the concept of a republic, an idea that had been adopted by the writers of the time and would become an important principle of the Italian government in the nineteenth century. Francisca Saragoni’s own political writings were written around the themes of freedom, liberty, and equality in society. As such, she became a hero among the Florentine community and remains one of the most beloved women of the Renaissance Period.