Top 10 Italian Women Who Inspired in the 20th Century

10 of the most influential Italian women of the 20th century.

If you’re unfamiliar with the tale of Rome’s beginnings, it’s a powerful story with an underlying matriarchal theme.

The legend is that Rhea Silva, a Vestal Virgin, gave birth to twin sons named Romulus and Remus, and was soon forced to abandon them due to threats against their lives. Intercepted from the Tiber river by the god Tiberius, the twins were saved as they nursed from the she-wolf Lupercal. Some 3,000 years later, and Italian society is still suckling from the teat of women’s accomplishments.

Although the course of Italian history and society has been shaped by influential women, many of them rarely make it past the textbook page into public discourse.

Hortensia, the first female lawyer who lived in 42 BC argued that women should not have to pay for a war they wanted nothing to do with.

In the 12th century Trotula de Ruggiero, the first female gynecologist argued against God’s will for pain during childbirth and presented the idea of opium to ease said pain.

Artemisia Gentileschi, who lived in the 17th century, was the first recognised female painter.

Despite such advanced positions, these women’s accomplishments were swallowed whole by patriarchal dictation. It wasn’t until the 20th century that official legislation and progress for women’s rights finally became visible, and Italians have women like these to thank for it.

Here is a list of 10 of the most influential and inspiring Italian women of the 20th century.

Rita Levi Montalcini (1909-2012)

Despite her father’s initial expectations of his daughter to be a housewife, Montalcini attended the University of Turin Medical School and subsequently made substantial contributions to the science world. In 1986, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of the nerve growth factor. She was also honoured with other biochemistry or biomedical science awards such as the Louisa Gross Horowitz Prize in 1983, the Lasker Award in 1986, and the National Medal of Science in 1987. Aside from her scientific achievements, Montalcini was appointed a senator for life in 2001 by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, then president of Italy.

Liliana Segre (born 1934)

Liliana Segre, aged 94, is renowned for speaking out about the horrors of the Holocaust. Born in 1930 into a Milanese family of Jewish origins, Segre was one of the few Italian Jewish children to survive deportation to a Nazi death camp. She was expelled from her primary school after the Racial Laws were promulgated in 1938 by the Fascist regime to enforce racial discrimination, mainly against Italy’s Jews.

When she was 13, Segre was deported with her father to Auschwitz. On arrival at the concentration camp the young Liliana was separated from her beloved father who she never saw again. He was murdered by the Nazis on 27 April 1944. After decades of silence, in the early 1990s Segre began to speak publicly of her horrific experience, particularly to young students. She was made a senator for life by President Mattarella in 2018, on the 80th anniversary of the Racial Laws. In 2020 she was placed under police protection after being subjected to a barrage of anti-Semitic abuse, including death threats.

Samantha Cristoforetti (born 1977)

Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, Italy’s first woman in space, in 2022 became the first European female commander of the International Space Station (ISS). Popularly known in Italy as AstroSam, Cristoforetti was the fifth European commander of the ISS to hold the role, following in the footsteps of fellow Italian Luca Parmitano. The 47-year-old astronaut was the third woman ISS commander in the world after two Americans, Sunita Williams and Shannon Walker. A former Italian Air Force pilot, Cristoforetti holds the record for the longest uninterrupted spaceflight by a European astronaut (199 days, 16 hours), and until June 2017 held the record for the longest single space flight by a woman. Photo: Markus Wissmann / Shutterstock.com.

Franca Sozzani (1950-2016)

Franca Sozzani was arguably one of the most significant women in global fashion. In her 28 years as editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia (1988-2016), she accomplished many milestones and shifted the tone within the fashion industry. Sozzani didn’t shy away from bringing light to some controversial topics at the time, such as domestic violence, drug abuse, plastic surgery, weight standards, and inclusivity. In 2008, she published an iconic edition, titled the “Black Issue”, which featured solely black models such as Naomi Campbell and Iman. The magazine sold out in the US and UK within 72 hours and created a lot of buzz within the fashion industry.

Aside from her strides in fashion, Sozzani dedicated her time to philanthropic work. She became a UN Goodwill Ambassador, a global ambassador for the UN Food Programme, co-founder of Child Priority (a non-profit which helps talented but less fortunate children to achieve their dreams), and president of the European Institute of Oncology Foundation. Photo credit: DELBO ANDREA / Shutterstock.com.

Anna Magnani (1908-1973)

Otherwise known as “La Lupa” or the “she-wolf, “ Anna Magnani was a prominent figure in the Italian film industry. Known for her expressive and emotional acting, she left a lasting impression on many and was described as “fiery” by Time magazine. In 1945 she achieved international fame in Roberto Rossellini’s neorealist masterpiece Rome, Open City. A decade later, Magnani starred in her first English-speaking role in a mainstream Hollywood movie called The Rose Tattoo. Due to her moving performance of a distraught widow, she became the first Italian to win an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.

Grazia Deledda (1871-1936)

Another Nobel Prize winner, Grazie Deladda, was honoured as a sympathetic and idealistic writer from Sardinia. She won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1926, becoming the first Italian woman to receive the accolade and the second woman globally.