Ada Gobetti (1902 – 1968) was an Italian teacher, journalist and anti-fascist leader. She was born Ada Prospero and later remarried to become Ada Marchesini.

Biography

With her husband

Piero Gobetti Piero Gobetti (; 19 June 1901, Turin – 15 February 1926, Neuilly-sur-Seine) was an Italian journalist, intellectual and radical liberal and anti-fascist. He was an exceptionally active campaigner and critic in the crisis years in Italy after ...

she contributed to several antifascist magazines, including ''

La Rivoluzione Liberale ''La Rivoluzione Liberale'' (Italian: ''Liberal Revolution'') was an Italian anti-Fascist liberal magazine which was published on a weekly basis in Turin between 1922 and 1925. The magazine is mostly known for its founder, Piero Gobetti. History ...

'' which was suppressed in the 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 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 The Biennio Rosso (English: "Red Biennium" or "Two Red Years") was a two-year period, between 1919 and 1920, of intense social conflict in Italy, following the First World War.Brunella Dalla Casa, ''Composizione di classe, rivendicazioni e prof ...

, kickstarted in

Giustizia e Libertà Giustizia e Libertà (; en, Justice and Freedom) 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 mov ...

and co-founded the

Partito d'Azione The Action Party ( it, Partito d'Azione, 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 promin ...

. 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 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 ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) 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 ...

. In 1945 she co-founded the

Women's International Democratic Federation Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) is an international organization with the stated goal of working for women's rights. It was established in 1945 and was most active during the Cold War. It initially focussed on anti-fascism, worl ...

. In 1946 she lost the election for vice mayor. She directed her energy to child development and translated 26 letters that were designed to send 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 ''l'Unità'' (, lit. 'the Unity') was an Italian language, 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, ...

'', '' Paese Sera'' and ''Educazione Democratica''. In 1956 she joined the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) ...

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 ( it, Medaglia d'argento al valor militare) 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, ...

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

Florestano Vancini Florestano Vancini (24 August 1926 – 18 September 2008) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He directed over 20 films since 1960. His 1966 film '' Le stagioni del nostro amore'', starring Enrico Maria Salerno, was entered into t ...

's film

The Assassination of Matteotti ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

(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 RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

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