Pia Marchi Maggi e la specializzazione comica femminile nel teatro di fine Ottocento

The aim of the research is to trace the landing stages to the figure of the female comedian of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century through the experience and artistic career of Pia Marchi Maggi (1847-1900), culminated in the constitution of Pia Marchi Maggi’s Company in 1895. The methodology used refers to the material history of italian theatre, based on direct and indirect sources, and to an updated bibliographical recognition. Only from a deep knowledge of the reference context and document collections, in which to search, it’s possible to attempt a most probable reconstruction of the historical events. The results obtained demonstrate the central role of this actress in the history of the female comic specialization in the Italian prose theatre - not dialectal - at the turn of the century.