Maria Maddalena Rossi, woman of action for democracy and the common good

We are approaching the eightieth anniversary of the Republic and the Constituent Assembly with greater knowledge, compared to just a few years ago, about the Mothers of the Constitution.The 21 women elected on 2 June 1946 are slowly emerging from oblivion thanks also to some monographs, such as the one dedicated by Giulia Vassallo to the socialist Bianca Bianchi (Biblion, 2021) or the very recent one by Alice Ginella, Chicchi la resistente, on the communist Teresa Mattei (Erga edizioni, 2025).

The young scholar Benedetta Sceresini now shines a spotlight on Maria Maddalena Rossi, offering a complete and well-drawn profile of the communist exponent of Codevilla, a village of just a few hundred souls in the province of Pavia (praise goes to the municipal administration that supported the work: not everyone's initiative). What is perhaps most striking about a woman who has spent her life in the service of democracy and the common good, and is even more striking in the vacuum of today's politics, is her 'predisposition for action, to be conducted energetically, always in the front row, seeking direct contact with the people,' notes Sceresini. It is no coincidence that Maria Maddalena Rossi, elected uninterruptedly to Parliament until '63, decided to end her career in the small Portovenere, a Ligurian gem where she used to spend her holidays, first as a town councillor and then as mayor: once again, concrete politics prevailed, above all the protection of the environment and a 'civilised' urban layout in times of wild building development.

But let us start at the beginning, from her origins about which, despite the scouring of archives and documents, little information remains, not least because of the disappearance of relatives and oral witnesses. Born in 1906 into a large, middle-class family - eight children - with her father as town clerk and her mother devoted to looking after the children, Rossi stood out for her inclination towards scientific studies: she decided to attend a technical institute in Milan, unlike two of her sisters who followed the path to become an elementary school teacher, a landing place then considered almost natural for those who had the opportunity to study. The importance she attached to education and economic independence, combined with her unwillingness to settle for the easy way out (she graduated in Chemistry) reveal the character of someone who, despite growing up in a provincial and traditional reality, did not hesitate to get involved, to cultivate her ambitions. And then to choose, decisively, which side to be on: in 1937, when she had already met what would become her husband, Antonio Semproni, in the pharmaceutical company where they both worked - Zambeletti in Milan - she joined the clandestine Communist Party. She was intercepted by the police and arrested in 1942, and experienced a year's confinement in the Marche region, which was followed by her escape to Switzerland (facilitated by an amnesty) immediately after 8 September 1943.

The book reconstructs her anti-fascist militancy, her election to the Constituent Assembly, in which Maria Maddalena Rossi is included in the International Treaty Commission, and her effective interventions during those crucial two years. Through a thematic reconnaissance, the pages of Mother of the Republic reveal the interests and fields of action of the protagonist, who was also president of the Italian Women's Union (Udi) from 1947 to 1956. The issue of equality with respect to her spouse and in work matters (see women's access to the judiciary), children's rights (including illegitimate children and on the adoption front) are among her priorities. Similarly, the issue of peace is at the heart of his political commitment. It is in this sphere, the author comments, that one grasps the climate of the time, stiffened by oppositions (pro-Atlanticism on the one hand, adherence to Soviet orthodoxy on the other) that border on dogmatism.

Finally, we cannot fail to mention one of the high points of Maria Maddalena Rossi's parable: her attention to the so-called 'marocchinate', the women raped by French colonial troops in May '44 in the Cassino area. It was she who met these forgotten victims, listened to them (slowly bringing them out of the silence in which they had taken refuge) and gave them a voice in Parliament, demanding justice on behalf of those who could never claim it.