Her place in the sun

In 1678, Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Padua, the first woman to achieve this feat. Yet, she was not included among the list of 88 scholars and luminaries in whose honour statues were erected in Padua square in the 18th century. Local leaders want to correct this error and erect a statue in her honour on an empty pedestal — some structures in the square were destroyed during Napoleon’s invasion of Italy.

The arguments against the statue from other locals are familiar: There is already a statue of Piscopia at the university; “playing” with culturally-significant sites is dangerous; it is more important to place the exclusion in historical context and learn from it. A new statue, of a woman, among her 17th-century contemporaries is indeed out of place. Or perhaps that is why, in 2022, it is much-needed. This is not to say that there shouldn’t be information about why Piscopia was denied, thus far, her place in the Venetian sun — the context that is needed is not for her presence but her absence for all these centuries. Is it necessary to preserve history in all its authenticity, or is it more important to recognise that it is being made and re-made every day, is the question.