Modesta Pozzo

The writer Modesta Pozzo was born into a wealthy Venetian family. She published several works on the theme of chivalric romance under the pseudonym Moderata Fonte. Her last work, a book of prose entitled Il merito delle donne (The Worth of Women), explored relations between men and women and argued the inherent superiority of the “fair sex.” It was first published in 1600, following Pozzo’s death in childbirth at the age of thirty-seven.