Graceful, Sensitive, Intelligent, Cultured. These are just some words I would describe the Great Maria Luigia, an Austrian Duchess of the 1800s. Born in Vienna on December 12, 1791, she was the oldest daughter of Archduke Francis and Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily. As a young girl, she received a solid education, her parent’s hope for fulfilling her future bride. Their wish was later fulfilled when Napoleon asked for marriage, with his main purpose of raising children who would help pass down his power to the next generation. Aside from her native language (German), she became quite fluent in English, French, Italian, Latin, and Spanish. Later on, she even picked up a bit of Hungarian, Turkish, and Greek.
Maria also learned about logic, history, geography, statistics, and law but found herself incredibly drawn to music and painting. She was deeply passionate about nature, flowers, and which motivated her to practice painting and gardening skills. Parma’s very own “Violetta di Parma” was created by Maria, which became a crucial aspect of the city’s cultural history. The first few bottles of the ‘Parma violet’ was made just for Maria Luigia’s personal use. Around 1870, Lodovico Bordari was able to get the same formula to make the perfume and have the idea of introducing itself to a wider audience. Nowadays, the image of the violet is indefinitely connected with her name. With this in mind, I have realized that by simply learning about Maria Luigia’s upbringing, personality, and legacy, I have been able to discover more about Parma than I initially thought.