Maria Antonietta Torriani was an Italian journalist and fiction writer. Much of her work was published under the pen name Marchesa Colombi, a character in the comedy ''La satira e Parini'' by Paolo Ferrari.

Early life and education

She was born in Novara in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy on January 1, 1840. Her father, Luigi Torriani, was a watchmaker, and her mother, Carolina Imperatori, was an elementary school teacher. A year after her birth, her father died at the age of 32. She had an older sister, Giuseppina, and a younger half-brother, Tommaso. She attended the primary school where her mother taught, and spent four years at the Bellini Institute of Arts and Crafts, where she excelled academically. She earned her teaching diploma studying at a convent in the

Lake Orta Lake Orta (Italian: ''Lago d’Orta'') is a lake in northern Italy, west of Lake Maggiore. It has been so named since the 16th century, but was previously called Lago di San Giulio, after Saint Julius (4th century), the patron saint of the regi ...

region.

Career

While at the convent she began corresponding with the journalist

Eugenio Torelli Viollier Eugenio is an Italian and Spanish masculine given name deriving from the Greek ' Eugene'. The name is Eugénio in Portuguese and Eugênio in Brazilian Portuguese. The name's translated literal meaning is well born, or of noble status. Similar d ...

, who went on to found the '' Corriere della Sera'', one of Italy's oldest newspapers. In 1865 her stepfather died, leaving her a fortune, and soon afterwards she bought a home in Milan. There she became friends with the feminist leader Anna Maria Mozzoni. The two women organized a series of conferences in 1871, lecturing in Genoa, Florence, and Bologna. In Bologna she befriended writers Enrico Panzacchi and

Giosuè Carducci Giosuè Alessandro Giuseppe Carducci (; 27 July 1835 – 16 February 1907) was an Italian poet, writer, literary critic and teacher. He was very noticeably influential, and was regarded as the official national poet of modern Italy. In 1906, h ...

. She married Eugenio Torelli Viollier in 1875. She was active in the literary scene of Milan, and published in journals such as ''Il Passatempo'' and ''L'Illustrazione italiana''. She published an etiquette book in 1877, ''La gente per bene'', which was reprinted 22 times over the next two decades. She went on to write over 40 books, mostly consisting of short stories and novels intended for women and children, as well as two opera libretti. She also translated several works from French and English to Italian. Much of her fiction is realistic and calls attention to women's issues of her day. For example, ''In risaia'' (1878) focuses on the poor working conditions of the '' mondine'', weeders in the rice paddies of Northern Italy. She also worked with "Neera" ( Anna Radius Zuccari) to manage the journal ''Vita Intima''. Following the suicide of her niece Eva, she separated from her husband and moved to

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 ...

. She gave up writing, but remained active socially, establishing a ''salotto'', or salon, frequented by musicians, intellectuals, and writers such as

Arrigo Boito Arrigo Boito (; 24 February 1842 10 June 1918) (whose original name was Enrico Giuseppe Giovanni Boito and who wrote essays under the anagrammatic pseudonym of Tobia Gorrio) was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist, librettist and composer, best ...

and

Giuseppe Giacosa Giuseppe Giacosa (21 October 1847 – 1 September 1906) was an Italian poet, playwright and librettist. Life He was born in Colleretto Parella, now Colleretto Giacosa, near Turin. His father was a magistrate. Giuseppe went to the University of ...

. She founded an organization to help the needy and during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

she organized a group that provided soldiers with warm clothing. She died in Turin on March 24, 1920. After her death, her work was largely forgotten until it was revived in the 1970s by Natalia Ginzburg and

Italo Calvino Italo Calvino (, also , ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian writer and journalist. His best known works include the '' Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the ''Cosmicomi ...

. One of her best known works, '' Un matrimonio in provincia'' (1885) was translated to English by Paula Sperling Paige and published as ''A Small-Town Marriage'' in 2001. A reviewer in ''

Italian Americana ''Italian Americana'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering studies on the Italian-American experience. It publishes history, fiction, memoirs, poetry, and reviews. The editor-in-chief is Carla A. Simonini ( Loyola University Chic ...

'' called it a "short masterpiece," and another in '' Kirkus Reviews'' called it "a trailblazing work, in its way, and a most welcome rediscovery."

Early life and education

Career

References

Further reading