Le signore della festa a veglia e a corte

The active participation of women in performances and festive life, as entertainers, spectators and performers, has always been a sensitive cultural and social indicator, involving above all the aristocratic elites, and traditionally arousing mistrust and censure. During the Renaissance, before the professional actresses of the Commedia dell'Arte imposed themselves in Italian and European public theatres, there were communities that welcomed the female presence on stage and within the party in various forms, but the phenomenon has not yet been explored in depth in historiography. The essay examines, from this point of view, the examples of Siena, where academies organised an intense theatrical life, deeply intertwined with the convulsive political events of the Republic, and Ferrara, where the princesses and their court ladies carved out a specific space for themselves in the spectacular entertainments, which were strictly directed by the prince.