Eleonora Fonseca Pimentel

Eleonora Anna Maria Felice de Fonseca Pimentel (; born Leonor da Fonseca Pimentel Chaves, ; 13 January 1752 – 20 August 1799) was an Italian poet, librarian, and revolutionary. As a revolutionary, she was connected with the Neapolitan revolution and subsequent short-lived Neapolitan Republic (also known as the Parthenopean Republic) of 1799, a sister republic of the French Republic and one of many set up in the 1790s in Europe.

Early life and family Pimentel was born in Rome to a Portuguese noble family. She wrote poetry, read Latin and Greek and spoke several languages (Italian, Portuguese, French and a little English). As a child, she moved with her family to Naples following political difficulties between the Papal States (of which Rome was the capital) and the Kingdom of Portugal. Her mother's death in 1771 left her with a substantial dowry, and she became engaged to her first cousin, Miguel Lopes. In 1776 the engagement broke off, and her father acquired a husband for her, Pasquale Tria de Solis, lieutenant of the Neapolitan Army, whom she married In 1778. In October of the same year, she gave birth to a son, Francesco. However, the infant died about eight months later. He was Eleonora's only child, as violence from her husband resulted in two later miscarriages. These tragedies led to the creation of several of her most notable works.

Six years later, seeing the mistreatment of his daughter and the misuse of her dowry, Pimentel's father went to court to ask for his daughter to be returned home. In 1784 the Court of Naples granted the discontinuation of Solis’ authority over Pimentel, and she was sent back to her familial home. A year later her father died, and she was left alone. In ill health due to her newfound poverty, she asked the king for a small pension, which she was granted because of her literary merits. Her success allowed her entrance to notable Neapolitan literary societies and opened the way to her correspondence with the foremost literati of the time. Metastasio labelled her "l’amabilissima musa del Tago," or "The most amiable muse of the Tagus." Voltaire dedicated a poem to her, in which he refers to her as "Nightingale of beautiful Italy". Other prominent literary figures she kept in contact with included Gaetano Alberto, Antonio, and Ferdinando Galiani. She often translated works from foreign languages as a form of income after separating from her husband. Pimentel's commentary on these translations led to her categorization as a political author. In 1799 she created, worked as Editor-in-Chief, and wrote for Il Monitore Napoletano, the newspaper of the Neapolitan Republic

Fonseca Pimentel asked to be beheaded, as was customary aristocrats sentenced to death; however her request was denied. The Kingdom of Naples only recognized her father's nobility, and additionally as a Jacobin she was no longer publicly viewed as nobility. She was thusly killed by hanging, in August 1799.