Giustina Renier Michiel

Giustina Renier Michiel (1755–1832) was an aristocratic woman who helped intellectual and social Venetian life flourish.

Early life She was born in Venice on 14 October 1755 to Andrea Renier, son of Paolo Renier (penultimate Doge of Venice), and Cecilia Manin, sister of Ludovico, the last Doge. She was brought back to Venice at the age of nine and placed in a fashionable boarding school kept by a Frenchwoman. They followed her father to Rome, not long after, where he had been named the Venetian ambassador to Pope Pius VI. There was a particularly Venetian character to her salon and it was frequented by well-known literary figures such as Ippolito Pindemonte, Marina Querini Benzon, Ugo Foscolo, Giustiniana Wynne (Countess Rosenberg), the French Madame de Staël and the English Lord Byron.

Publication During this time she also started her monumental work published in six volumes, Le origine delle feste veneziane. The book was heavily researched and was an extensive look into Venice’s festivals, myths and public rituals. She wrote many letters, many of which went to her niece Adriana Zannini, Marc Antonio Michiel, Contessa Marina Beneti Cicciaponi and many others. On April 6, 1832 she died surrounded by her friends and grandchildren at the age of 77, and she was interred at the San Michele cemetery on the Isola di San Michele, in Venice.