A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Zanardi-Bottioni, Speciosa
ZANARDI-BOTTIONI, SPECIOSA,
Was born at Fontanellato, in the Parmesan territory, a place where there was nothing to awaken a thirst for knowledge, a place where emulation could not exist, and where the loudest blasts of Fame's trumpet are never heard. Genius, however, is not the slave of place or circumstance. Speciosá was accustomed from a child to aid her father, a petty apothecary, in the work of his shop; as the drugs passed through her hands, her thoughtful mind observed the chemical effects, which led to experiments, examination, reading. She chanced to become known to a lawyer of Parma, Signer Bottioni—a correspondence ensued, in which she displayed the utmost natural eloquence and grace. She afterwards became his wife, and went with him to live in Parma, where there is no want of learned men or libraries. Her first care was to select the best masters, and, after acquiring a knowledge of Italian literature, she would not be satisfied without studying the Latin and Greek authors in then original languages.
She has published several prose and poetical works, and some dramas, among which may be cited "Madame de Maintenon," which is formed on a well-managed plot—and developed by naturally sustained characters.