Franceso Agostino Della Chiesa

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Francesco Agostino Della Chiesa was born in Saluzzo to Nicolino, lord of Cervignasco, and Lucia Corvo, a noblewoman of Cuneo. According to Antonio Manno, he was born on 6 October 1593, the fifth child of twelve children. He was initiated first to forensic studies, then to an ecclesiastical career, like his brother, the eldest son Giovanni Antonio Count of Stroppo, who welcomed a legal career following the cursus in the Piedmontese judiciary after graduating in law at the University of Rome in 1615 and nominated as podestà of Saluzzo in 1616. A reference figure in the Piedmontese legal framework, he was awarded the titles of deputy prefect of war and conservative of the Jews in the province of Mondovì in 1617 prefect of Saluzzo in 1623 and, a year later, he was created councilor of State and ordinary senator in the Senate of Turin. In 1620 he published the Theatro delle donne letterate, with the Discourse of the pre-eminence of the female sex, "a work that in the following years would have created some problems with the ecclesiastical authorities" (Merlotti, 2003: 23), which he dedicated to the Duchess of Mantua , Margherita di Savoia, who had returned to Turin following the death of her husband Federico Gonzaga.