Assistant Professor of History, Acadia University
A Veil of Silence: Woman and Sound in Renaissance Italy
Amid the dramatic religious and social upheavals of the early modern centuries a new focus on sonic regulation took place in Florence. In particular, urban, ecclesiastical, and medical authorities worked to carefully regulate the sounds thousands of cloistered girls and women made and heard. Silence and noise were deeply entangled with notions of gendered im/purity. Despite persistent efforts to enforce silence, enclosed communities brimmed with vibrant soundscapes and women had diverse reactions to the sensory regimes they experienced.
Julia Rombough is an Assistant Professor of History at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Her research examines histories of gender, race, class, the senses, and the environment in early modern Italy. Her recent book, A Veil of Silence, was published by Harvard University Press in 2024; her articles have appeared in Urban History, Sixteenth Century Journal, and Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Reforme.
