(AGENPARL) – Rome, 12 June 2024
(AGENPARL) – Wed 12 June 2024 PRESS NOTE
“Women of the Republic”, volunteer nurses who assisted the wounded in the defense of the Roman Republic in 1849.
On 13 June a celebratory meeting organized by the Museum of the Roman Republic and the memory of Garibaldi
Rome, 12 June 2024 – From 30 April to 30 June 1849, the desperate defense of the Roman Republic besieged by the French army, which wanted to restore the temporal government of Pope Pius IX, saw the extraordinary commitment of volunteers from every part of Italy and even Europe. At the same time in the ambulances and in the hospital wards some women fought a silent battle: they were the volunteer nurses recruited by Princess Cristina Trivulzio of Belgiojoso to treat the wounded, even those of the opponents. Women from all social backgrounds, united by feelings of piety, solidarity and love for their country. In those days they knew no rest and underwent exhausting fatigue, repugnant functions and shows, without fearing the bombs that hit the premises where they worked. Yet reactionary writers and journalists addressed them with the worst epithets, calling them “women of dubious fame” or “shameless”. According to Pius IX, the miserable sick had often been forced to die “amidst the flattery of shameless prostitutes”.
Cinzia Dal Maso dedicated a book to them – Femmiccie Impudentissime. Volunteer nurses and assistance to the wounded in the defense of the Roman Republic in 1849 (International Institute of Studies “Giuseppe Garibaldi”, Dunp editions) – which reports in the title the derogatory term with which a Jesuit, Giuseppe Boero, had labeled them.
The text will be at the center of the two-voice dialogue “Women of the Republic, volunteer nurses who assisted the wounded in the defense of the Roman Republic of 1849” with the author and Mara Minasi, Head of the Museum of the Roman Republic and Garibaldi’s memory, scheduled for Thursday June 13th at 4pm at the Museum.
The meeting will retrace the start of a tradition of impartial and organized assistance to the wounded little known to most but of great historical importance, as an experience of at least five years preceding the formation of the International Red Cross, traditionally considered the founder of the sector. All the administrative, logistical and organizational implications of the rescue service for the injured headed by Princess Cristina Trivulzio of Belgioioso will be highlighted, as well as the most relevant figures of nurses who were actively involved in the assistance, often with roles of responsibility on the various ” ambulances” as the rescue structures were called at the time: from Giulia Bovio to Enrichetta di Lorenzo, from Margaret Fuller to Giulia Calame, from Anna de Cadilhac to Malvina Trotti Mosti, to name just the best known.
At the end of the meeting, with free entry while available places last, the 2024 Colomba Antonietti Prize will be awarded, on the day of the anniversary of his death, which occurred on 13 June 1849 on the bastion adjacent to Porta San Pancrazio, which today houses the museum. The re-enactment will end with a floral tribute to the heroine which will be held at the bust dedicated to her on the Janiculum walk, the only female presence in the solemn parade of faces of fighting patriots that adorns the hill sacred to the historical memories of the Risorgimento.
Cinzia Dal Maso is a Roman journalist and writer, member of the Scientific Committee of the “Giuseppe Garibaldi” International Studies Institute and director of the online magazine http://www.specchioromano.it. She has written numerous books, articles and essays, including including Le città degli Etruschi (1984), Colomba Antonietti: the true story of a heroine (2011), The voluntary pupils of Menotti Garibaldi (2016), Girolamo Malloni, Garibaldi’s river wolf (2016), The Republic of the Romans ( 2017).
Info:
Women of the Republic. Volunteer nurses and assistance to the wounded in the defense of the Roman Republic in 1849
Thursday 13 June 2024 at 4.00 pm
Museum of the Roman Republic and Garibaldi Memory
Via di Porta San Pancrazio – Rome
Free admission
Attached is the meeting poster
Simone Fattori
Press office
Zètema Progetto Cultura srl
00156 Rome
