Ada Gobetti (later Marchesini; ; 14 July 1902 – 14 March 1968) was an Italian teacher, journalist and

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...

leader.

Biography

With her husband

Piero Gobetti Piero Gobetti (; 19 June 1901 – 15 February 1926) was an Italian journalist, intellectual, and anti-fascist. A radical and revolutionary liberal, he was an exceptionally active campaigner and critic in the crisis years in Italy after the Fir ...

she contributed to several antifascist magazines, including '' La Rivoluzione Liberale'' which was suppressed in 1925 by the fascist dictatorship. Her husband was beaten by fascist squads and forced to go into exile in Paris, where he died of bronchitis in 1926.

Benedetto Croce Benedetto Croce, ( , ; 25 February 1866 – 20 November 1952) was an Italian idealist philosopher, historian, and politician who wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, historiography, and aesthetics. A Cultural liberalism, poli ...

encouraged her to resume work. From 1928 she taught English language and literature and translated English texts. In 1937 she married Ettore Marchesini. She helped the Biennio Rosso, kickstarted in

Giustizia e Libertà Giustizia e Libertà (; ) was an Italian anti-fascist resistance movement, active from 1929 to 1945.James D. Wilkinson (1981). ''The Intellectual Resistance Movement in Europe''. Harvard University Press. p. 224. The movement was cofounded by ...

and co-founded the

Partito d'Azione The Action Party (, PdA) was a liberal-socialist political party in Italy. The party was anti-fascist and republican. Its prominent leaders were Carlo Rosselli, Ferruccio Parri, Emilio Lussu and Ugo La Malfa. Other prominent members included L ...

. During the war Gobetti kept a diary that could have caused her death. To encrypt it she wrote it in English. This was the basis of her biography. She kept safe houses during the war.The woman who invented the Italian resistance
Ian Thomson, The Spectator, Retrieved 29 March 2017 She was a leader in the

Italian resistance movement The Italian Resistance ( ), or simply ''La'' , consisted of all the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social Republic during the Second World War in Italy ...

and she co-founded the female group of partigiane, ''Gruppi di difesa della donna''. After the end of the war, the CLN made her vice-mayor of

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. In 1945 she co-founded the

Women's International Democratic Federation The Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) is an international women's rights organization. Established in 1945, it was most active during the Cold War when, according to historian Francisca de Haan, it was "the largest and probably ...

. In 1946 she lost the election for vice mayor. She directed her energy to child development and translated 26 letters that were designed to be sent to first-time parents based on Benjamin Spock's philosophy and they had been written by Dr Loyd Rowland and published by the Louisiana Society for Mental Health. Gobetti wanted children to be brought up differently to how they had been under the Italian fascists. In the 1950s she contributed to multiple left-wing and pedagogy publications, including ''

L'Unità (; English: "the Unity") is an Italian newspaper, founded as the official newspaper of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1924. It was supportive of that party's successor parties, the Democratic Party of the Left, Democrats of the Left, a ...

'', ''

Paese Sera ''Paese Sera'' was an Italian afternoon newspaper published between 1949 and 1994. History The newspaper was founded in Rome in 1949, as the afternoon edition of the newspaper ''Il Paese''. Close to the Italian Communist Party, it was intended ...

'' and ''Educazione Democratica''. In 1956 she joined the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party (, PCI) was a communist and democratic socialist political party in Italy. It was established in Livorno as the Communist Party of Italy (, PCd'I) on 21 January 1921, when it seceded from the Italian Socialist Part ...

Death and legacy

She died in 1968 after a life dedicated to democracy and women's rights.A Life of Resistance
, boydellandbrewer.com, Retrieved 24 March 2017 On 2 October 1978 she was posthumously awarded the

Silver Medal of Military Valour The Silver Medal of Military Valor () is an Italian medal for gallantry. Italian medals for valor were first instituted by Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia on 21 May 1793, with a gold medal, and, below it, a silver medal. These were intended for j ...

for her role in the anti-fascist resistance movement. In the

Florestano Vancini Florestano Vancini (24 August 1926 – 18 September 2008) was an cinema of Italy, Italian film director and screenwriter. He directed over 20 films since 1960. His 1966 film ''Seasons of Our Love, Le stagioni del nostro amore'', starring Enr ...

's film ''

The Assassination of Matteotti ''The Assassination of Matteotti'' () is a 1973 Italian historical drama film directed by Florestano Vancini. The film tells the events that led to the tragic end of Giacomo Matteotti and to the establishment of the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini ...

'' (1973), Ada Gobetti is played by Manuela Kustermann.

Works

;In Italian * ''Alessandro Pope. Il poeta del razionalismo settecentesco'', Bari, Laterza, 1943 * ''Dai quattro ai sedici anni. Guida ai libri per ragazzi'', Torino, Edizioni del Giornale dei genitori, 1960 * ''Cinque bambini e tre mondi''. Torino, SAIE, 1953 * ''Non lasciamoli soli. Consigli ai genitori per l'educazione dei figli'', Torino, La cittadella, 1958 * ''Diario partigiano''. Torino, Einaudi, 1956, 1972 e 1996 * ''Storia del gallo Sebastiano ovverosia Il tredicesimo uovo'', Torino, Einaudi, 1963 * ''Vivere insieme. Corso di educazione civica'', Torino, Loescher, 1967 * ''Educare per emancipare. Scritti pedagogici 1953-1968'', Manduria, Lacaita, 1982 * Piero Gobetti, Ada Gobetti. ''Nella tua breve esistenza. Lettere 1918-1926'', Torino, Einaudi, 1991 ;In English *

References

Bibliography

* Mezzosecolo, 7, Annali 1987–1989, Centro Studi Piero Gobetti. Numero monografico sulla vita e l'opera di Ada Prospero Marchesini Gobetti. * Emmanuela Banfo e Piera Egidi Bouchard ''Ada Gobetti e i suoi cinque talenti, ''Torino, Claudiana, 2014,

External links

* *
''Ada Gobetti''

RAI (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gobetti, Ada 1902 births 1968 deaths Journalists from Turin Action Party (Italy) politicians Italian Communist Party politicians Italian socialist feminists 20th-century Italian women journalists 20th-century Italian journalists Italian feminists Italian resistance movement members 20th-century Italian translators Politicians from Turin 20th-century Italian women politicians 20th-century Italian women writers Women's International Democratic Federation people