Teresa Bandettini

Teresa Landucci Bandettini (also known by her Arcadian name Amarilli Etrusca; 11 August 1763 – 6 April 1837) was an Italian dancer, composer of extemporaneous verse, and poet, who is remembered as the Figurante Poetesca ("literary ballerina").

Life Born in 1763 to Benedetto Bandettini and Maria Alba Micheli in Tuscany in the city of Lucca, Bandettini came from a humble background. She was an orphan by the age of seven and was first heard of as a dancer using the name "Amarilli Etrusca".

After Bandettini married Lucchese Pietro Landucci, whom she had met in Imola in 1789, her career shifted from dancing to improvisation. Her specialty was to create and deliver verse on the spot from random suggestions supplied by an audience willing to pay to witness her emotional delivery and the creative process. Although there were two publications of her improvised verses published in 1801 and 1807, Bandettini preferred to publish poetry that she had spent more time composing. There are a number of paintings of Bandettini including an oil by Angelica Kauffman. Kauffman was a member of the Italian literary Society known as the Arcadian Academy. Kauffman respected Bandettini skills, and created the portrait which she gave to her in 1794. In 2002 it was discovered that the young composer Niccolò Paganini had dedicated six long lost sonatas to her. She died in Lucca in 1837.

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