Agathe-Sophie Sasserno
Agathe-Sophie Sasserno (3 October 1810 – 6 June 1860) was a French poet. She was born in Nice and spent her life there. Although she wrote in French, she considered herself Italian. Life Agathe-Sophie Sasserno was born in 1810 at the place Victor (today the place Garibaldi) in Nice. She was the daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Louis Sasserno, a former aide of André Masséna, and Marie Sibille Chartroux. She was a cousin of the painter Giovanni Battista Biscarra. She wrote her first poem at the age of fourteen to distract her father. According to Jean-Baptiste Toselli, she received much praise for this, which encouraged her to continue. She remained single all her life and devoted herself entirely to poetry. Although she wrote in French she considered herself Italian so she dedicated her work Les Sylphides (1838) to King Charles Albert of Sardinia. She later wrote Ore meste, chants sur l'Italie (1846), and the collection Poésies françaises d'une Italienne in 1854 for which the critic Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve wrote the preface. She was enthusiastic about the ongoing unification of Italy. In 'Glorie e Sventure : chants de guerre de l'indépendance italienne (1852) she evoked Anita Garibaldi. Her attachment to Nice, which