This volume offers a comprehensive account of writing by women in Italy.

List of contributors; Acknowledgements; Introduction Letizia Panizza; Part I. The Renaissance, Counter-Reformation and Seventeenth Century: 1. Letter writing, 1350-1650 Maria Luisa Doglio; 2. The fifteenth century: i. Humanism Letizia Panizza, ii. Vernacular poetry and mystery plays Judith Bryce; 3. Lyric poetry Giovanna Rabitti; 4. Fiction, 1560-1650 Virginia Cox; 5. Polemical prose writing 1500-1650 Letizia Panizza; 6. Religious and devotional writing, 1400-1500 Gabriella Zarri; Part II. The Enlightenment and Restoration: 7. Eighteenth-century literature Luisa Ricaldone; 8. Travel writing Ricciarda Ricorda; 9. Journalism, 1750-1850 Verina Jones; 10. Literary critics and scholars, 1700-1850 Adriana Chemello; Part III. The Risorgimento and Modern Italy, 1850-2000: 11. Journalists and essayists, 1850-1915 Silvana Patriarca; 12. The novel, 1870-1920 Lucienne Kroha; 13. The popular novel, 1850-1920 Anna Laura Lepschy; 14. Futurism and fascism, 1914-45 Lucia Re; 15. The novel, 1945-65 Ann Hallamore Caesar; 16. The novel, 1965-2000 Adalgisa Giorgio; 17. Poetry, 1870-2000 Catherine O'Brien; 18 Theatre and cinema, 1945-2000 Aine O'Healy; 19. Aesthetics and critical theory Sharon Wood; Abbreviations; Bibliography.