| Teresa Bandettini | |
| Birth Date: | 11 August 1763 |
| Birth Place: | Lucca, Grand Duchy of Tuscany |
| Death Place: | Lucca, Grand Duchy of Tuscany |
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").[1]
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".[2]
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.[2] Bandettini's talents led to her finding a patron in Count Ludovico Savioli. He paid for an early poem concerning the "Death of Adonis" to be not only printed but to be illustrated by Francesco Rosaspina. Bandettini was a composer of extemporaneous verse, and a poet. Not surprisingly with her dancing background, she was known as the literary ballerina (Figurante Poetesca).[3] 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.[2]
Within Bandettini's lifetime she was acknowledged as an important writer. The noted Italian poet Maria Maddalena Morelli, also known as Corilla Olimpica, dedicated some of the last of her poetry to Bandettini.[4] 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.[4] In 2002 it was discovered that the young composer Niccolò Paganini had dedicated six long lost sonatas to her.[2] She died in Lucca in 1837.