Ada Gobetti (later Marchesini; néeProspero; 14 July 1902 – 14 March 1968)[1] was an Italian teacher, journalist and anti-fascist leader.
Biography
With her husband Piero Gobetti she contributed to several antifascist magazines, including La Rivoluzione Liberale which was suppressed in 1925 by the fascist dictatorship. Her husband was beaten by fascist squads[2] and forced to go into exile in Paris, where he died of bronchitis in 1926.[3]Benedetto Croce encouraged her to resume work.[1] From 1928 she taught English language and literature and translated English texts. In 1937 she married Ettore Marchesini.[3]
She helped the Biennio Rosso, kickstarted in Giustizia e Libertà and co-founded the Partito d'Azione.[1] During the war Gobetti kept a diary that could have caused her death. To encrypt it she wrote it in English. This was the basis of her biography. She kept safe houses during the war.[2] She was a leader in the Italian resistance movement and she co-founded the female group of partigiane, Gruppi di difesa della donna. After the end of the war, the CLN made her vice-mayor of Turin.[1] In 1945 she co-founded the Women's International Democratic Federation. In 1946 she lost the election for vice mayor.
She directed her energy to child development and translated 26 letters that were designed to be sent to first-time parents based on Benjamin Spock's philosophy and they had been written by Dr Loyd Rowland and published by the Louisiana Society for Mental Health. Gobetti wanted children to be brought up differently to how they had been under the Italian fascists.[3] In the 1950s she contributed to multiple left-wing and pedagogy publications, including L'Unità, Paese Sera and Educazione Democratica.
She died in 1968 after a life dedicated to democracy and women's rights.[4] On 2 October 1978 she was posthumously awarded the Silver Medal of Military Valour for her role in the anti-fascist resistance movement.[3]
