A new exhibit in Rome looks at the women of Italy over the last 150 years. I stopped by to get some inspiration for my blog today and found a trove of women that I would like to write more about.
One of the first sights in the exhibit was discouraging but serves to show how far Italian women have come. It was the painting by Italian artist Achille Tominetti called “Plowing in Miazzina”, and was painted in 1899. Miazzina is a town in the Piedmont region in northern Italy. Tominetti worked on his family farm while painting.
After that “women as beasts of burden” shocker, the exhibit picked up. Here are few of the women who faced enormous challenges and displayed astounding courage:
There was Emanuela Loi, first Italian policewoman to be killed in a Mafia attack at age 24. She was one of the bodyguards for anti-mafia prosecutor Paolo Borsellino and died together with Borsellino and four other police officers in Palermo, Sicily in 1992 in a mafia car bombing.
There was Ester Danesi Trasversari, the first Italian woman war correspondent in World War I. Now I complain about having to drag the tripod around for the cameraman, but hanging around in trenches in ankle-length dresses must have been really rough.
There was Franca Viola, a Sicilian girl who refused to accept a shot-gun marriage after she was kidnapped, raped and left pregnant by a spurned admirer, and instead took him to court and won. That was in 1947. Whoa. It is hard to imagine.
There were some women I was already familiar with but intend to write about some day: Journalist Oriana Fallaci, Actress Anna Magnani, and Educator Maria Montessori.
But my favorite photo was of Sisters Maria Cleofe and Maria Innocenza who were the first nuns to get pilot’s licenses and used their flying skills to bring aid to the needy in remote areas of Pakistan and India.
I don’t know if it is politically incorrect to use the phrase but seeing the women as beasts and the nuns as pilots I am tempted to say “you’ve come a long way baby.”
Interesting post. I learn all sorts of things I hadn’t thought about from your posts. Did any of these women bear the burden of MM, the conflicting demands of family and work (in another country)?? Each generation has it’s own challenges. Perhaps it inspires us to meet ours.
Love this…..especially the sweet face of Franca Viola.
A reminder to all of us of the women who came before and have carved a path for each of us. Sounds like a fascinating exhibit!
Well, Good night! as my ballet teacher used to say. That is one terrific post. Indeed (we’ve) come a long way, baby. It is hard “modern” women to grasp what it was really like for those who came before us. I remember my own mother (born 1923) telling me that after she was awarded a full college scholarship her father remarked “What would a girl want to go to college for?” And remarkably, perhaps regrettably, many of today’s young women and girls, have absolutely no concept of how life was just thirty years go. That is something of a pity, and a shame, but I guess that is what exhibits such as the one you have written about are for. Your “Beasts of Burden” painting is a real shocker. I have never seen it before. Talk about eliciting a gasp. Wow. Thanks, once again, Trisha for great writing. All the best to you.
Trisha,
Great post. You could do one on each painting or photo – I am sure. Good points made already – but I am struck that not two hours away by plane – you still see the same thing in the fields of Turkey’s breadbasket – the Aegean region in Anatolia. Beasts of burden still, the women toil in the fields while most men while the days away in cay bahcesis (tea gardens).
Liz
Thanks Liz – I definitely could to a post of each photo and on many other things I saw at that exhibit. That very evening I was invited to a dinner party and mentioned Franca Viola, the Sicilian girl who spurned her crazed admirer and then refused to marry him after he raped her and got her pregnant. An Italian woman at the dinner says that she started the ball rolling towards eventual laws against rape in Italy. I need to look into that a bit more for a future post. There was also a part of the exhibit on the “Mondine”, Italian women who worked in the Rice field cultivating rice for risotto. I saw pictures of them and they almost looked like they were in Vietnam. Then there were the women partisans in World War II — speaking of soldiers — wearing dresses, boots and carrying rifles (another potential post there.) I mentioned one woman journalist who was the first war correspondent in World War I, but there were several others that were fascinating. I could go on and on, it was a treasure trove of stories.
Blog Readers — Check out Liz’s great stuff on soldiers and story-telling at: slowly-by-slowly.com
Dear Trisha,
I really enjoyed this post. I am remembering Sofia’s words about all of the Turkish women working in the fields, as Liz points out above…this was something that caught Sofia’s attention again and again last summer during our trip to Turkey. Here is an excerpt of her letter on the topic:
Hello everyone, This is Sofia. We saw rice, wheat, tomatoes, peppers, and sunflowers being grown on a windy road. There were a lot of shepherds with there sheep and a couple of cows grazing on the wild grasses. There weren’t very many men working in the fields, it was mostly women who did that (unfair!). Where are all the men you might ask? Most men are at the nearest café drinking çay! ….”
Big sigh,
Elspeth
Nice comment by Sofia. That was such a wonderful blog!
Thanks for posting about this exhibit. You mentioned all the highlights I would have been interested in. I had never heard of Franca Viola~! Sadly I’ll miss the exhibit when I come to Rome. Far sadder, I’ll miss the Artemisia Gentileschi exhibit which ends in Milan this month and heads onto Paris. I only have a slightly enormous obsession with her work and I always seem to be out of the country when there is an incredible exhibition of her work, in Italy or the states!!!!
Rebecca, You have just put me onto something I never knew. I must admit my total ignorance. When I read Artemisia Gentileschi in your comment I had to go Google her. What an amazing woman! I can understand why you are obsessed. Now I have going to have to go find some of her works to check out. Sounds like she is definitely worth some research for a blog post! Thank you!!
I am always happy to talk about Artemisia! Wasn’t she truly incredible? A couple of her masterpieces are in Rome! The Spada, etc. capidimonte in Naples has 2 or 3. Florence has a few, my favorite version of her Judith Slaying Holofornes is at the Uffizzi. Of course many if her works are in Milan for the show!!! Thank the gods I at least have Judith to view in Florence, I suspect some if the Rome pieces will be missing. The Naples Judith Slaying Holofornes is in the Milan show. Years ago on one trip it took us hours to arrive at Naples, hail a taxi, get lost, an accident, every delay and improbable obstacle made it so we had ten minutes in the capidimonte museum only before it closed. I ran, literally ran through all the collection, frantically searching for Artemisia! Found her after running through everything trying to take in all the other great works like a speed reader and gazed on the picture until I was escorted out! My husband was looking for the Titians! It was too crazy. I’ve walked hours in the roman streets trying to find palazzos housing her works, asking 30 Romans where the places were, not giving up until I saw them! Half the time they’re being Cleaned or borrowed! Years back we stayed in Milano to see the last supper. It was closed for maintenance not announced anywhere! Then we were stuck in Milan with all the shops closed, the museums closed, this last supper church closed down for months! We made the best of it, Italy is Italy! But it’s funny how these things work sometimes! Can’t wait to read your thoughts on her and her work and life.
(the French movie was inaccurate btw)!