Piera Fondelli Gatteschi (22 August 1902 - 7 September 1985) was the commander of the Female Auxiliary Service of the

Italian Social Republic The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...

, a member of the

National Fascist Party The National Fascist Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian Fascism and as a reorganization of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The ...

and a participant in the

March on Rome The March on Rome ( it, Marcia su Roma) was an organized mass demonstration and a coup d'état in October 1922 which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party (PNF) ascending to power in the Kingdom of Italy. In late October 1922, Fa ...

Early life

Piera Fondelli was born in Poppi

Miriam Mafai Miriam Mafai (24 March 1931 - 11 January 2011) was an Italian journalist, author and politician. Life and career Born in Florence, the daughter of the Scuola Romana artists Mario Mafai and Antonietta Raphaël and the sister of the politician ...

, Natalia Aspesi, ''Le Donne italiane: il chi è del '900'', Rizzoli, Milano 1993, p. 240."Gatteschi Fondelli Piera"
/ref> in

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

. Her father died before her birth and she moved to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

with her mother before 1914. On March 23, 1921, she enrolled in the

Fasci Italiani di Combattimento The ''Fasci Italiani di Combattimento'' ( en, Italian Fasces of Combat, link=yes, also translatable as ''"Italian Fighting Bands"'' or ''"Italian Fighting Leagues"'') was an Italian Fascism, Italian Fascist organization created by Benito Mussolin ...

in Rome with

Ines Donati Ines Donati (June 8, 1900 in San Severino Marche – November 3, 1924 in Matelica) was a political activist and a supporter of the first wave of Italy's Fascist movement. Early years Ines Donati was the daughter of David Donati, a shoemaker, and ...

with whom she attended the

Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma The Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma is a public tertiary academy of art in Rome, Italy. It was founded in the sixteenth century, but the present institution dates from the time of the unification of Italy and the capture of Rome by the Kingdom ...

.“Storia di Piera e delle altre squadriste”
/ref> On 19 October 1922 she took part in the PNF congress held in Naples and on October 28, the twenty-year-old Piera was the head of a small group of twenty women who formed the "honor squad escorting the pennant" and with them participated in the March on Rome. She then became inspector of the Federation of the Urbe, taking care of the , of the

Italian Red Cross The Italian Red Cross (IRC, it, Croce Rossa Italiana or ''CRI'') is the Italian national Red Cross society. The Italian Red Cross was one of the original founding members of the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1919. History Early h ...

. In 1936 she left her post to follow Count Mario Gatteschi in

Italian East Africa Italian East Africa ( it, Africa Orientale Italiana, AOI) was an Italian colony in the Horn of Africa. It was formed in 1936 through the merger of Italian Somalia, Italian Eritrea, and the newly occupied Ethiopian Empire, conquered in the Seco ...

, whom she married becoming the Countess Gatteschi Fondelli, an engineer who directed the works on the Assab-

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

road. When, three years later, she returned to Italy,

Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

appointed her a Trustee of the Female Fasci of the City which had 150,000 members and in 1940 a national inspector for the party. After the fall of fascism on 25 July 1943, she took refuge with her in-laws in the

Casentino The Casentino is the valley in which the first tract of the river Arno flows to Subbiano, Italy. It is one of the four valleys (alongside Valdarno, Valdichiana, and Valtiberina) in which the Province of Arezzo is divided. Mount Falterona, from ...

,“Una pagina al giorno: Vendette demoniache, di Piera Gatteschi Fondelli”
/ref> while her husband, who returned to Africa as a fighter, was imprisoned by the British in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. Informed that Mussolini was freed and founded the

Northern Italy Northern Italy ( it, Italia settentrionale, it, Nord Italia, label=none, it, Alta Italia, label=none or just it, Nord, label=none) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. It consists of eight administrative regions ...

, Piera moved to

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

and started a new collaboration with

Alessandro Pavolini Alessandro Pavolini (27 September 1903 – 28 April 1945) was an Italian politician, journalist, and essayist, notable for his involvement in the Fascist government, during World War II, and also for his cruelty against the opponents of fascism ...

, the party secretary. Here, at the end of 1943, Piera wrote to the Mussolini the desire of fascist women to have a more incisive role in the defense of the country, a project supported by Pavolini and accepted by

Rodolfo Graziani Rodolfo Graziani, 1st Marquis of Neghelli (; 11 August 1882 – 11 January 1955), was a prominent Italian military officer in the Kingdom of Italy's '' Regio Esercito'' ("Royal Army"), primarily noted for his campaigns in Africa before and durin ...

, since many men were needed for the war and women became necessary to assist them and to replace them in the many non-front-line roles. On 18 April 1944, the Female Auxiliary Service was established under Fondelli's leadership. The auxiliaries initially provided only nursing assistance in military hospitals, work in offices and propaganda, and set up mobile refreshment places for the troops. In the space of twelve months 6,000 young women participate in six training courses, in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

and

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco dialect, Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and ...

; only then were they assigned to the Commands. After April 25, 1945, the Female Auxiliary Service was dissolved and Pavolini suggested destroying all documentation to avoid reprisals against members."Storia. Donne in divisa: le ausiliarie Rsi dalla Fanolla al generale Piera Gatteschi Fondelli"
/ref>

References

Bibliography

*Luciano Garibaldi, ''Le soldatesse di Mussolini. Con il memoriale inedito di Piera Gatteschi Fondelli'', Mursia, 1997 *Marino Viganò, ''Donne in grigioverde: il Comando generale del Servizio ausiliario femminile della Repubblica sociale italiana'', Settimo Sigillo, 1995 *Ulderico Munzi, ''Donne di Salò'', Sperling, 2004 {{Authority control 1902 births 1985 deaths Italian generals People of the Italian Social Republic Women in war