The free queen who defied her times

Annarosa Mattei, «La regina che amava la libertà» [The Queen Who Loved Freedom] Salani, 2023

I share, proportionately, with Queen Christina of Sweden a great love of knowledge that I have had since I learned to read and a stubborn desire not to want a marriage that hindered my freedoms of choice. Although I had passionately studied the 30 Years War and Sweden’s great Vasa family, I had missed her story because it was perhaps under-emphasized in history books. Thank you then to Annarosa Mattei for shedding new light on this queenly woman who was able to bend reality to her desires by breaking rules and escaping the dictatorship of the male that established women's roles, gender and destiny. A complex human journey that led her to enormous choices, such as abdicating the throne, abjuring Lutheranism and embracing the Tridentine Catholic Church. A queen whose lifestyle and diplomatic dimensions took her halfway around Europe in search of a place to live a utopia of government that would give everyone the freedom to profess their faith. Her journey stopped in Rome, at Palazzo Riario (now Corsini), which housed her along with her art and book collections.

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