Netflix’s latest smash series is The Law According to Lidia Poët, an Italian mystery-thriller set in 1883 in Turin. At the time, Italy was just over 20 years into being a nation-state (it unified in 1861) and was ruled by King Victor Emmanuel II.
Women were 62 years away from full suffrage – 42 from being able to vote in local elections. Female students had only been permitted to attend universities 11 years previously. Yet in this traditional and male-dominated society, Lidia Poët achieved the distinction of becoming the country’s the first woman lawyer. Then, not long after she started practising, she was suspended.
Now Poët is the subject of a dramatic new series, in which she investigates murders while also facing institutional barriers and criticism for practicing as a female lawyer. It’s a thriling six-episode first season starring Italian actor Matilda De Angelis (Italian Race, Rose Island) in the title role. But how much of the story is true?
Here is everything to know about the real Lidia Poët.
Was Lidia Poët really the first female lawyer in Italy?
Yes. Poët was born in north-western Italy in 1855, and attended the University of Turin where she passed her law exams. After two years learning the trade in a lawyer’s office, she sat the equivalent of the bar exam, and was approved to become a lawyer by 45 of 50 votes. After this incredible feat, Poët then practised law for three happy months. At the time she was 28 years old.
Why was she disbarred?
The attorney general did not approve of her working as a lawyer. He lodged a complaint with the Court of Appeal of Turin, which – after much discussion – chose to disbar her. Poët naturally pushed back against the decision and there was fierce public debate around the issue (apparently 25 Italian newspapers came out in favour of women having a profession during the time), but in the end it wasn’t enough.
What did Poët do?
Poët circumnavigated the court’s decision by continuing to work in her brother Enrico’s law office (in the show, her brother is played by Pierluigi Pasino) – the only thing she could not do was sign letters or plead in court, so she would ask her male colleagues to conduct these parts of the job for her. When her brother went travelling to Vichy every year, she apparently ran his whole office.
Did she ever practice law legally again?
Yes. In 1920, when Poët was 64, she was permitted to rejoin the roll of lawyers, meaning she was finally legally recognised as a lawyer again. Poët lived to the ripe old age of 93, though it’s not clear whether she practised up to this point!
Did she really have such a busy love life?
In the show, Poët is remarkably liberated for the time; she takes lovers and is resistant to the idea of marriage. While we don’t know the finer details of the real Poët’s sex life, we do know that she never married and never had children. Instead she lived with her brother and the duo’s lives were dedicated to their profession.
At the start of the show, Poët returns to live with Enrico in the family villa with his wife, Teresa (Sara Lazzaro) and daughter Marianna (Sinéad Thornhill), as well as Teresa’s brother Jacopo, a journalist (Eduardo Scarpetta). In reality the siblings lived alone together. Marilena Jahier Togliatto, one of Poët’s only living relatives, explained the setup in an interview: “She never lived in a villa in Turin. She lived in Pinerolo, in a historic house in the centre, above the arcades.
“Lidia’s brother wasn’t married either, while a wife appears quite a lot in the series: the two of them lived alone with the servants, they were a very well-off family and both thought only and exclusively of work.”
Why has she become so important in Italian history?
Poët’s case fired up the public debate around women practising law in Italy that contributed to the advancement of women’s rights. Although there were a handful of female lawyers around the world at the time – in 1847 Serbian Marija MilutinoviÄ became the world’s first female lawyer, then in 1869 Arabella Mansfield became the first in the US – Poët’s case naturally made a much bigger impact in Italy.
In 1919 the law changed so that women were allowed to hold certain public offices. Poët apparently remained involved in the international women’s movement for the rest of her life, joining the Consiglio Nazionale delle Donne Italiane (the National Council of Italian Women) when it was founded in 1903.
The Law According to Lidia Poët is on Netflix
