Padua will have a monument to a great woman. City Council approves motion

After more than a month of discussion in academia, politics and the city, the great women who have punctuated Padua ’s history will have a monument in the city. This was decided by the City Council of Padua at 1:34 a.m. the day before yesterday, at the end of two hours of debate, when, with 19 votes in favor, none against, 6 abstained, 3 not voting and 5 absent, it approved the motion presented by two majority city councilors, Margherita Colonnello and Simone Pillitteri, in which they proposed to create a sculpture dedicated to Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia (Venice, 1646 - Padua, 1684) the world’s first female graduate.

It all started last December 23 when the two councilors presented the motion in the Council, which was also later illustrated at a press conference on December 27. Since that day, the proposal to introduce gender parity in Prato della Valle, the large square in Padua whose inner circumference is home to 78 statues of great figures who have made history, but only men, has ignited debate. Our magazine has often intervened on the topic, first with an article gathering all positions, then with an editorial by Federico Giannini, and finally with an interview by Leonardo Bison with Councillor Marta Nalin. The motion was finally approved, albeit without the constraint of erecting the monument in Prato della Valle, and with an amendment to the text that opens up the possibility of erecting more monuments to female figures.

“The City Council voted: Padua will have its first statue dedicated to a woman,” said Simone Pillitteri. “So many of us believed in it and the dream has become a reality. Together we managed to write a new page of History.”

Padua will have a monument to a great woman. City Council approves motion

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