This is a wild guess; forgive my likely wasting your time. But ... I note there has been in Gottolengo (prov. di Brescia) since at least the sixteenth century a church or chapel dedicated to a Marian miracle, called Incidella. Gottolengo is at the southernmost point of the province of Brescia, bordering on the province of Mantova, so it's not far from Isabella and would have been known to her. Perhaps one of the cottage industries of the shrine was the manufacture and sale of soap?

I hope you find the solution to your problem.

Best wishes,

George

George FERZOCO

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On 9 Aug 2009, at 19:55, Deanna Shemek wrote:

italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies Dear Colleagues,

I'm hoping someone might be able to assist me in translation of a phrase from Isabella d'Este's letters. In a letter of 1495, she orders some "sapone da capo facto in cidelle [incidelle]."

Cidella is not to be found in Battaglia nor in any Mantuan dialect dictionaries. I find no Internet leads---in fact there is a page (not created by me) that asks what "cidella" means, with no answers logged. Does anyone know what this term means?
Many thanks.

Deanna Shemek
Provost, Cowell College
Professor, Italian and Comparative Literature

Mail: Cowell College Academic Service Center
University of California, Santa Cruz
1156 High Street, Santa Cruz CA 95064
Tel. 831/459-2251 (messages)
Fax 831/459-4880

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