Home » Images » 0029 Pictures From History » CPA0014292

Philippines: Leona Florentino (1848 - 1884), poet, satirist and playright during the Spanish Period, Mestizo District, Vigan, Ilocos Sur Province, Luzon Island

Leona Florentino (April 19, 1849-October 4, 1884) was a Filipino poet in the Spanish and Ilocano languages. She is considered as the 'mother of Philippine women's literature'.

Born to a wealthy and prominent family in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Florentino began to write her first verses in Ilocano at a young age. Despite her potential, she was not allowed to receive a university education because of her gender. Florentino was instead tutored by her mother, and then a series of private teachers. An educated Ilocano priest taught her advanced Spanish and encouraged her to develop her voice in poetry.

Due to the feminist nature of her writings, Florentino was shunned by her husband and son, and so was forced to live alone in exile and separately from her family.

The City of Vigan is the capital of the Province of Ilocos Sur and located on the western coast of the island of Luzon.

Vigan is the only surviving historic city in the Philippines that dates back to the 15th century Spanish colonial period. The town was also an important trading post in pre-colonial times with a community of Chinese traders from Fujian settled in the area.

Today it has been awarded UNESCO World Heritage Site status acknowledging that it is one of the few Hispanic towns left in the Philippines, and is well-known for its cobblestone streets, and a unique architecture that fuses Philippine and Oriental building designs and construction, with colonial European architecture.