Padua to get first female statue

(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 1 - The northern Italian city of Padua south of Venice is to get its first female statue in one of the largest public squares in Europe, Prato della Valle, honouring the world's first woman doctoral graduate.
    The first woman in the world to get a university doctoral degree, local woman Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia, is to be honoured with the first female statue to be added to the 78 existing statues of famous men ranging from Savonarola to Galileo, Livy, Mantegna, Petrarch and Tasso.
    Piscopia became a doctor in philosophy at Padua university on June 25, 1678.
    Paduan feminist and activist Anna Piva successfully lobbied two centre-left councillors to table a motion in her favour, which was approved by the city council Monday night.
    It was passed by the centre left, with the centre right abstaining.
    An Italo-Albanian Venetian of nobel descent, Piscopia, also known as Helen Cornaro, was celebrated for her learning. (ANSA).