Polissena Contarini Da Mula

Polissena Contarini Da Mula, or Polixena Polixena di Giulio Contarini Da Mula, was a Dogaressa of Venice by marriage to the Doge Alvise Giovanni Mocenigo (r. 1763-1779).

She married the Doge in 1771 at a very young age, though she does not seem to have played to part of dogaressa in a ceremonial sense as much as did her predecessor Pisana Conaro. She was, however, the center of the literary circle her consort gathered on his private country villa, where she became the object and muse of many poets. There, Carlo Gozzi prepared comic plays for the little theatre of the Palace.

References

• Staley, Edgcumbe: The dogaressas of Venice : The wives of the doges, London : T. W. Laurie, 1910
• Louisa Lauw: The Dogaressa