Women change the world. Lady Gaga’s famous remark—“Some women choose to follow men, some others to follow their dreams. If you are asking yourself where to go, remember that your career will never wake up one day telling you that it doesn’t love you anymore”—reminds us all that women’s commitment to work and life can inspire the world. Meet some of today’s most powerful and inspirational Italian women.
Mina
Mina Anna Maria Mazzini, better known as Mina, is a true Italian legend, having performed about 1,500 songs during her career. The “Cremona Tiger,” as she was called for her hometown, made her debut in 1958 when she performed at a famous disco in Tuscany’s Marina di Pietrasanta. As time passed, she became one of the most beloved Italian singers, performing on TV shows like Canzonissima and Studio Uno, in the late 1960s. Mina was a non-conformist and free-minded person; for example, she became pregnant with her first child by a married man, which launched a huge scandal in the conservative Italian culture in the early 1960s. She was also the first singer to wear a miniskirt on TV. Today, at age 83, after an early and deliberate retirement at 35 years-old from the entertainment business, she is still a real diva.
Nilde Iotti
Nilde, short for Leonilde, Iotti was the first woman to hold the third most important office in Italy, the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies. She held that role for 13 years, over three legislatures, the longest term for any president of the Chamber. A communist and partisan in northern Italy, she fought the Nazi- Fascists during the WWII Italian resistance. She was also a strong activist for women, which prompted her long political activity. Her inauguration speech as president of the Chamber inaugurated a new role for women in society.
Maria Montessori
Born in 1870, Maria Montessori was one of the first Italian women to graduate in medicine. A doctor, child neuropsychiatrist, educator, pedagogist, philosopher, and scientist, she is known for the educational Montessori method named after her and used in thousands of kindergartens, primary, middle, and high schools throughout the world. Her method addresses the education of the child from birth to adolescence in which the teacher is simply the medium for stimulating the child’s innate desire of doing and learning. Before Italian currency changed to the Euro, Montessori’s picture appeared on the 1,000 lire banknote.
Anna Magnani
Anna Magnani was born in Rome in 1908. She was a symbol of Italian neorealist cinema, considered one of the first major female performers in the history of world cinema. Super famous for her leading roles in Rome, Open City, directed by Roberto Rossellini, and the American film The Rose Tattoo. The latter 1956 film, directed by Daniel Mann and starring Burt Lancaster, won her an Oscar for best actress and made her the first Italian and non-English-native-speaking actor in Academy Award history. For the same role she also won a BAFTA as the International Actress of the Year and a Golden Globe as Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama. Magnani did not attend the ceremony but made it known in her famous and ironic response: “Magnani is happy!” Next time you’re in L.A., look for her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Alda Merini
Alda Merini was an Italian writer and aphorist, the greatest Italian female poet of the 20th century. Her poetry reveals a disarming emotional depth, treating mystic and erotic themes at the same time. Her personal life influenced her art: She suffered from mental illness and was hospitalized for a prolonged time in a psychiatric hospital. In 2019 her daughter Emanuela Carniti reconstructed Merini’s complex human story in the intense biography titled Alda Merini, My Mother. Merini described her tough existence in these words: “I have enjoyed life because I also like life’s hell . . . and life is often hell. For me, life was beautiful because I paid dearly for it.” She was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature by the Académie Française in 1996 and the Italian Pen Club in 2001.
Barbara Benzoni
Barbara Benzoni was born in Milan and lives between Rome and Tuscany. She is devoted to USA, the land of courage and innovation. She’s Peter's super-lucky mum and Ale's wife. Cinema, art, good food and only beautiful things are the themes of her existence. With a degree in Italian literature and a Masters in Sports Management she can both enjoys books and basketball matches. In 25 years she has been organizing sport events all over the world and she’s been lucky enough to meet the greatest champs ever. Curiosity in everyday life and people are her drivers. Her personal icon is Mohammed Ali : "It's not bragging if you can back it up".