Vittoria remembers the 21 Constituent Mothers. Naming the large tree-lined garden in Piazza Dante after them.
The initiative of the San Biagio comprehensive institute
They were remembered by the students of the San Biagio Comprehensive Institute (now San Biagio – Rodari) which in June 2021 they wanted to name after the “21 Mothers of the Constitution” the large garden located between Piazza Dante and Via Garibaldi. The ceremony took place in June 2021, in the months in which the city government was governed by the Prefectural Commission. The municipality collaborated in the initiative, with the extraordinary commission, the provincial school office, the Soroptmist Club, the South South international centre.
Some time later, the plaque was torn down, perhaps due to an error by the workers.
Vittoria’s school asked for it to be restored and the plaque, identical to the one from three years ago, was redone and returned to its place.
The ceremony took place yesterday in the presence of the mayor, Francesco Aiello, the councilor for public education, Francesca Corbino, the representatives of the provincial school office and the school, with the director, teachers and students.
A touching ceremony, which allowed us to bring to mind a recent history, very important for the life of democracy in our country, but which the young students learned only from history books.
The history of the Republican Constitution and the 21 women elected for the first time
On June 2, 1946, Italy went to vote for the first time after the Second World War. We vote for the referendum, to choose between monarchy and republic and to elect the members of the new Constituent Assembly.
Women go to vote for the first time and – for the first time – are also elected. Out of 556 deputies elected for the Constituent Assembly, 21 are women. They are 9 communists (Adele Bei, Nadia Gallico Spano, Nilde Iotti, Teresa Mattei, Angiola Minelli, Rita Montagnana, Teresa Noce, Elettra Pollastrini and Maria Maddalena Rossi), 9 Christian Democrats (Laura Bianchini, Elisabetta Conci, Filomena Delli Castelli, Maria De Unterrichter , Maria Federici, Angela Gotelli, Angela Maria Guidi Cingolani, Maria Nicotra and Vittoria Titomanlio), 2 socialists (Bianca Bianchi and Lina Merlin) and 1 from the Everyman Front (Ottavia Penna).
For the first time women in Italy are called into decision-making roles. Among them there are names and faces destined to play an important role in the life of the country: Nilde Iotti was the first female president of the Chamber, Lina Merlin was the proponent of a very important law, the one for the abolition of the so-called “closed houses”, which housed brothels and places of prostitution. Women who have left an important mark on the history of democracy, but their names are not always remembered.
Now they will remain forever, together with their faces, on the large plaque in the garden of Piazza Dante in Vittoria.
