URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Winter_2015_Melissa-McCarthy

Elisabetta Caminer Turra; Luisa Bergalli

from her father’s vineyard, and regularly visits relatives in Italy. Her home away from home is Venice, and Sama is spending part of her fellowship year in the storied city this fall. “Living and working in Carriera’s native city among the essentially unchanged narrow streets, bridges, and canals,” Sama muses, “inspires my imagination and creativity and brings me closer to Carriera’s world. È fantastico! ”

professional arenas usually reserved for men,” says Sama. Sama earned her Ph.D. in Italian studies from Brown University, and has received research fellowships from the Fulbright program and the American Association for University Women. When Sama began graduate school at Brown in the 1980s, women lacked a presence in the study of Italian literature and history. She sees herself as part of a generation of scholars who in the last 20 years have brought to light the work and success of 18th- century Italian women writers, artists, and scientists. Sama’s passion for all aspects of Italian life also stems from her Calabrian roots. She grew up making wine in Massachusetts

was traditionally dominated by men. Sama wrote a biography of Caminer, and included a selection of Caminer’s letters, poems, and journalistic writing that Sama translated and annotated to bring Caminer’s groundbreaking work to English-speaking audiences. Sama’s work on Caminer led her to conduct research on another Venetian woman of letters, the poet and playwright, Luisa Bergalli (1703-1779) whom Caminer greatly admired and who was a friend of Carriera’s. “It was fascinating to discover the professional and personal networking among these three middle-class Venetian women who all succeeded in making careers for themselves in

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