Luisa Zeni (Arco, 1896 - 1940) was an Italian secret agent and writer. Women and the Great War by Allison Belzer Palgrave Macmillan; 2010, chapter 4

Biography

Early years

She was born in

Arco, Trentino Arco is a ''comune'' in Trentino-Alto Adige in northern Italy. The town is faced on one side by sheer limestone cliffs jutting up like a wall protecting it and its ancient hilltop castle. King Francis II of the Two Sicilies died here in 1894. ...

, in 1896. The daughter of a blacksmith, she lost her mother when a small child. She lived in the early years of the twentieth century, in the climate of growing tension within the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

between Italians and Germans. An irredentist, she came from a region hesitant between a centuries-old loyalty to the

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

and the call for Italian independence. After crossing the border in 1914, she played an important role in the pro-war propaganda within the Committee of the Adriatic and Trento Irredents (Comitato degli Irredenti Adriatici e Trentini). She also wrote of her experiences.

The Great War

In the lead-up to the war, the Command of the First Army recruited Trentino inhabitants willing to participate in an espionage operation aimed at disclosing enemies' movements from Ala up to the Brenner Pass. Zeni was recruited in 1915 by Colonel Tullio Marchetti, Chief of the Information Office. On May 22, 1915, Zeni crossed the border, entering Austrian territory in the Ossenigo area. Due to her knowledge of the German language and of the Trentino, in the weeks following her arrival Zeni gathered information, which she noted down in minuscule papers that she later hid in the buttons of her coat. Her cautiousness saved her life at the end of July: she was arrested, but the accusations against her were dropped. She avoided the destiny of other Italian spies, who were found out and executed during the same period.

Selected works

Zeni's works include the following: * ''Briciole: ricordi di una donna in guerra'' (1926) * ''Irredento'' (1928) * ''Figli d'Italia'' (1932)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeni, Luisa Italian spies 1940 deaths 1896 births 20th-century Italian writers Women spies 20th-century Italian women writers