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Journal of Italian Translation
wilderness of the Apennines. In the sonnets of her youth, she
describes an unusual freedom to roam the woods, ride horseback,
hunt, fish and compete in athletic games with the local shepherdesses,
although she regrets a lack of formal education that left her
ill-equipped for a literary calling. A deep love of nature, developed
early in life, forms a central theme in her work.
Francesca was not quite twenty-one years old when she married
Count Giulio Bufalini (then seventy years of age). Giulio,
twice married and widowed, had fathered ten children but no
legitimate son, and was thus anxious to produce an heir. Francesca
left her woods to take up a new life at the Bufalini Castle in San
Giustino (Umbria) where she divided her time between the castle
and the Bufalini palazzo in nearby Città di Castello. With professional
military duties in Rome, Giulio was absent for long periods,
leaving Francesca to manage his family’s practical affairs—lands,
servants, finances. During their first years together, she suffered
a miscarriage and a serious fever which nearly took her life. She
subsequently gave birth to two sons and a daughter but was
widowed at age thirty. She did not remarry. Profound grief over
Giulio’s death forms another significant theme in her poetry, as
does her worry over the fate of her small children.
Fancesca was forced to fight numerous legal battles to secure
contested properties and to provide for her children’s care. Her
maternal love and devotion, evident throughout her poems, is
later coupled with the lament of not enjoying a reciprocal affection.
Despite her efforts to create harmony, her sons, upon reaching manhood,
quarreled with her over money and also litigated formally
against her and against one another, as Giulio, the eldest, would
retain future right of inheritance to the Bufalini castle, whereas
Ottavio, his younger brother, only the right to reside there. Giulio
moreover discouraged his mother’s literary endeavors. 2
At age sixty-one, because of the emotional strain caused by
tensions in her family, Francesca left Umbria for Rome to take a
post in the Colonna household as lady-in-waiting to the duchess,
Lucrezia Tomacelli Colonna. She remained there eight years, returning
to Città di Castello only upon Tomacelli’s death in 1622
where another tragedy awaited her. In 1623, Ottavio was killed
by gunshot (purportedly an accident although suspicion arose
regarding Giulio’s involvement). With each misfortune, Francesca
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