The Prato fiorito, the Selva di cose diverse, and Other Compilations by Suor Fiammetta Frescobaldi

Fiammetta Frescobaldi (1523–86) was born in Florence on January 17, 1523, one of the six children of Lamberto Frescobaldi and Francesca Morelli.¹ She was christened Brigida but took the name Fiammetta when, in November 1535, she entered the Dominican convent of San Jacopo di Ripoli in Florence, where she lived for 50 years, until her death in 1586.² As the convent’s chronicle tells us, she was self-taught and had a keen mind and memory.³ In her early twenties she became crippled, and, in order to make herself useful, she began to write for the edification and recreation of her