In the early hours of February 21st, Isabella Valdiri stepped into her private world as a Roman Catholic Church employee, and in the days that followed she was subjected to much public scrutiny, ridicule, criticism, and scrutiny. Isabella had worked hard for two years at the Catholic Church, first as a teacher’s aide and then as an administrator, and on February 21st she stepped down as President of the Pontifical Academy for Boys, resigning from her position. The public humiliation and criticism did not stop with that day; Isabella continued to be hounded by photographers, paparazzi, and the press, all of whom seemed determined to get any and all information about the case. All this led to the question: was Isabella a saint or a witch? And even more importantly: did she deserve to be hounded so viciously?
For many years Isabella was a deeply respected personality; she was a trusted and popular figure in the Italian media, and was closely associated with the papacy. Isabella had been married six times, all of which ended in divorce, and she was said to be deeply unhappy about being a role model for her children. It was widely held by the general public that Isabella deserved the public scrutiny into her life, but even after such public scrutiny Isabella still retained considerable social standing, especially in Italy and abroad. What happened to cause her meteoric rise to fame?
Isabella’s secret was, perhaps, a bit simpler than one might imagine: it was simply common sense. Isabella was famous for being an exemplary teacher; she had a reputation for being a devoted teacher and for teaching her students not just to have better grades, but also to do their best while they were in school; and she had a reputation for being a caring, compassionate person. In fact, Isabella’s biography seems to make clear that she had an extremely humane view of people. Her religious writings also give the impression that she was quite simply a person, devoted to her family and to humanity in general. In other words, what led her to fame may not have been the gossip that ran rampant during medieval times or the public scrutiny into her life that marked other Renaissance figures. Instead, Isabella’s sudden rise to fame may have been more attributable to the kind of personality that makes people see their life or profession in new ways.