Science

Filomena Nitti, the scientist who gave up the Nobel Prize for 'the family'

In Carola Vai's book, the story of the scholar who dedicated her life to scientific research together with her husband and left him honours and glory

by Veronica Constance Ward

30 October 2025

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Sembrano sempre troppo poche le storie note di donne straordinarie. Carola Vai con Filomena Nitti e Il Nobel negato ne regala una, italiana. Filomena Nitti, infatti, è stata una donna straordinaria dalla vita straordinaria. Coetanea di Rita Levi-Montalcini, ricercatrice in campo medico, fu un’eccellenza italiana messa in ombra dalla storia, dal successo dei due uomini della sua vita, il padre, ministro del governo Giolitti ed europeista Francesco Saverio Nitti e il marito, lo scienziato Daniel Bovet, premio Nobel per la medicina nel 1957. La carriera del padre prima e del marito poi condizionarono inevitabilmente le scelte della scienziata ma non spezzarono mai l’orgoglio e la consapevolezza di Filomena che continuò a dedicarsi alla ricerca scientifica in campo medico. A lei insieme al fratello Federico e Bovet dobbiamo il primo farmaco antistaminico. Insieme posero le basi per le ricerche che portarono alle prime cure della chemioterapia e

If Rita Levi Montalcini always forcefully declared her dedication to science alone and her choice not to owe anything to anyone else, least of all a husband, Filomena Nitti lived all the 'roles' of the feminine, woman of science, loving mother and dedicated wife.

Rita and Filomena, two parallel and very distant lives, two versions of the love for scientific research that Carola Vai in her book Filomena Nitti e Il Nobel negato juxtaposes because they were of the same age (she is also the author of the only complete biography of Rita Levi Montalcini for Rubettino Editore), with a professional curriculum of excellence, and grew up in the same political and social climate. Two pioneers, one a daughter of the North, Jewish, who visited Europe as a tourist, the other a daughter of the South, who experienced political flight with her family. Both, for years, lived with the desire to return to their homeland.

Despite being exiled at a very young age with her family first to Switzerland and then to Paris, Filomena was not crushed by family events, nor did she let them get her down. On the contrary, she developed a rebellious character after her adolescence, which clashed, even politically, with her father (she was the first communist in the family).

Daniel Bovet

After the failure of her first marriage, divorced with two children, she faced a decidedly uphill road in 1936. However, Filomena stifled her pride and returned to her parents' home in Paris from Moscow. With determination and great organisational skills, she managed to obtain a scholarship to the Pasteur Institute to become a scientific researcher where she met Daniel Bovet, the man to whom she dedicated her life and career and with whom she returned to Italy.

For her, it was a new life, still young and after already many difficult experiences, which she continued to face with enthusiasm and commitment. Since her return to Italy with Bovet, she played a leading role in research, confirmed by the many works of her husband also signed by her, often related to the curare strand. The couple would appear together at conferences and events and due to her meticulous and attentive nature, Filomena took care of those aspects of research that required particular patience and expertise. She took on responsibility for the ever-growing research laboratory and it is clear from many different testimonies that Daniel Bovet would hardly have achieved the results that led to his Nobel Prize without the meticulous collaboration of his wife.

This biography portrays a woman with a generous and altruistic nature, of great grace and rare tenacity. 'While she was sharing her time between the laboratory of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, her father and her children, Rita Levi-Montalcini began her independent life in the United States'. Filomena was not interested in charming the public, she did not seek sympathy and consideration. And it is easy to imagine that with the same grace and composure she accepted that the Nobel Prize and the glory belonged to her life and research companion.

Carola Vai with a contribution by Maria Luisa Nitti, Filomena Nitti e il Nobel negato, Rubettino Editore, 2025, pp 208, euro 16