Quirina Mocenni Magiotti

Quirina Mocenni Magiotti (Siena 1781-Florence 1847) renamed the “donna gentile” (gentle lady) by Foscolo in the Epistolario, met the poet in Florence, via the intervention of Luisa d’Albany and of Leopoldo and Massimiliana Cicognara. The romantic relationship between Foscolo and Quirina, who was unhappily married to Ferdinando Magiotti di Montevarchi, lasted only a few months in the autumn of 1812, but the bond between them lasted until the poet's death and is  documented by extremely interesting correspondence. Quirina was always an important figure for the poet who helped him economically in the period of exile; the flow of letters became more intense precisely in the period of the stay in Switzerland, from where the poet unsuccessfully invited his friend to come to accompany him subsequently to London.

A faithful custodian of the reputation and memory of Foscolo, Quirina worked during the years of exile and after his death to promote his writings and collect unpublished texts; she bought the papers Foscolo left in Italy, which were in danger of being dispersed, and entrusted them to his brother Giulio; she also contributed to the publication of Scelte opere di Ugo Foscolo in gran parte inedite sì in prosa che in verso con nuovi cenni biografici e note del professore Giuseppe Caleffi (Selected works of Ugo Foscolo, mostly unpublished, in both prose and verse with new biographical references and notes by Professor Giuseppe Caleffi, Fiesole 1835) and Prose e poesie edite ed inedite di Ugo Foscolo (Unpublished and published prose and poetry by Ugo Foscolo, 1842) edited by Luigi Carrer and she cooperated with Mazzini while he was in exile in London and preparing Scritti politici inediti raccolti a documentarne la vita e i tempi (Unpublished political writings collected to document the life and times, Lugano 1844) after recovering Foscolo's papers.