ABSTRACT
Maria Gaetana was born in 1718, according to uncertain tradition in the house in Via Pantano. By the age of five she had a command of French, learnt from her nurse, and was fluent enough to impress a group of guests with a recitation. In 1727, at the age of nine years, Maria Gaetana received from her tutor, Father Gemelli, the difficult exercise of translating into Latin a lengtly discourse written by him, called the Oratio, propounding strong arguments favouring the education of women and girls. Maria Agnesi went on to the study of Greek, German and Hebrew, in all of which she excelled; then followed intensive studies of natural philosophy and mathematics, all of this taught by what appear to have been outstandingly mediocre pedants. But Maria Gaetana, endowed with a perfect memory and a profound sense of duty towards her father, was able to absorb vast amounts of very indigestible and stultifying stuff.
