The northern Italian city of Padua is to get its first female statue in one of the largest public squares in Europe, Prato della Valle, honouring the homegrown 17th-century first woman doctoral graduate in the world.
The first woman in the world to get a PhD, Venetian noblewoman and scholar Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia, is to get the first female statue to be added to the 78 existing statues of famous men ranging from Savonarola to Galileo, Livy, Mantegna, Petrarch and Tasso.
Piscopia got a philosophy PhD from Padua University on June 25, 1678 after an acclaimed two-hour disquisition on Aistotle in Latin. She was one of the first women in the world to get an ordinary degree.
Paduan feminist and activist Anna Piva has successfully lobbied two centre-left councillors to table a motion in her favour, which is expected to be approved by the city council.
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