Giustina Rocca

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Giustina Rocca (died 1502) was an Italian Renaissance lawyer, judge and diplomat. [1] She has been called the world's first female lawyer, and claimed as an inspiration for the character of Portia in Shakespeare's play Merchant of Venice . [2] [3]

Contents

Life

Giustina Rocca was born in Trani in the second half of the fifteenth century, the daughter of Orazio Rocca, orator at the senate of Naples. [3] She married the Royal Captain Giovanni Antonio Palagano, with whom she had four children. Her daughter Cornelia died before the age of twenty in 1492. [2]

Rocca was a lawyer at the Court of Trani, and is traditionally regarded as having specialized in delicate diplomatic issues between Trani and Venice. On 8 April 1500 she pronounced an arbitration sentence before the Venetian governor of Trani, Ludovico Contarini. In her last wishes, dictated to a notary on 10 June 1501, she asked to be buried in Trani Cathedral next to the tomb of her daughter Cornelia. [2]

Memorialization

Rocca's life was celebrated in Tractatus de iure patronatus (1533), by the Trani jurist Cesare Lambertini. [2]

The Rocca tower in Luxembourg was completed in 2019 as an addition to the headquarters of the Court of Justice of the European Union. [4] It is the tallest building in the country. [4]

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References

  1. Rosetta Silvestri Baffi (1973). Giustina Rocca, giurista del Cinquecento. Edizioni del centro librario.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Bianca Consiglio. "Giustina Rocca". Enciclopedia Delle Donne. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  3. 1 2 Ilaria Li Vigni (2017). Penaliste nel Terzo Millennio. FrancoAngeli. pp. 16–17. ISBN   978-88-917-4835-5.
  4. 1 2 "Rocca Tower". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 27 July 2023.