| Maria Pellegrina Amoretti | |
| Birth Date: | 12 May 1756 |
| Birth Place: | Oneglia |
| Death Place: | Oneglia |
| Occupation: | lawyer |
Maria Pellegrina Amoretti (12 May 1756 – 12 November 1787), was an Italian lawyer. She is referred to as the first woman to graduate in law in Italy, and the third woman to earn a degree.
Amoretti was born on 12 May 1756 in Oneglia. She was the niece of Carlo Amoretti.[1] When she was 20 (in 1777), she became a Doctor of Laws, at the University of Pavia, where Columbus was educated.[2] She also received a degree in philosophy from the university.[3]
Amoretti initially applied to the University of Turin, but was rejected because she was a woman, and her graduation from the University of Pavia in 1777 is considered by historian Giulio Natali to be the “most famous graduation of the eighteenth century.”[3]
Though Amoretti died at the age of 31, she left a manuscript on dowry laws, specifically on marriage in Roman law,[4] which was published posthumously in 1788 by a relative, Carlo Amoretti.[3]
She died on 12 November 1787 in Oneglia.