Clotilde Luisi

Uruguayan author Clotilde Luisi was a lawyer, professor, pedagogue, translator, and feminist activist. At the 1948 London Olympics she received an Honorable Mention in the category Literature / Dramatic Works for her work El Desafio, a play in three acts, which she wrote together with her future husband José Maria Podestá.

Luisi was the daughter of Italian Ángel Luisi Pisano and Frenchwoman Josefina Janicki. In Montevideo, she was educated at the Normal Institute for Girls, graduating as a qualified Normal Teacher of Primary Instruction. During the Presidency of Cuestas, in 1900, having received a scholarship at the Institute for Deaf-Mute Children of Buenos Aires, she went to this city to study teaching methods for disabled children. Two years later, having successfully passed her examinations in this subject, she returned home and entered University.

From 1906-11 Luisi read Law and Social Science and earned her Advocate’s degree, becoming the first woman in Uruguay to receive this distinction. After taking her degree she was sent to Europe to represent Uruguay at the Conference of Deaf-Mute Teachers held in Roma. On her return home Luisi was appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy and Religion at the Normal Institute for Girls. Later, after organizing the library of the Law School of the University, she was appointed to a professorship in that school, and when the Women’s University was founded in Montevideo, she became the Director, holding that post until 1919. From 1912-18 Luisi was Dean of the Division of Primary and Secondary Instruction for Women. She wrote frequently on historical and philosophical subjects, and translated several philosophical works into Spanish.