CHRISTINE DE PIZAN E MARGHERITA DI VALOIS: TRANSCULTURALITÀ E FEMMINISMO ANTE LITTERAM TRA ITALIA E FRANCIA

Christine de Pizan is known for having been revolutionary and provocative. In the Epistre Othéa, the author even suggests female models that the perfect govern- ment man should be inspired, like the Amazon Penthesilea, in this way innovating the genre called speculum principis. French society was often at the forefront of women's self-awareness, and this is also demonstrated by the life's experience of another prota- gonist of history, even if less known: Margaret of Valois, consort of Emanuele Filiberto I of Savoy. Patron and publisher, Margherita influenced political choices and religious controversies, and she constituted an important intellectual circle at the Savoyard court. My contribution intends to show how the link between French and Italian culture con- stitutes the rhizome of a peculiar transcultural feminism ante litteram perfectly embo- died by these two intellectuals between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.