La Sainte famille

Adopting a diachronic and interdisciplinary approach, this book questions the relationship maintained by the Church and the Catholic world with the family

«Italian Girls in Trouble». Abortion Travels and Transnational Abortion Referral Networks (Rome, London, Paris, 1967-1981).

For the very first time, this essay analyzes abortion travels and their arrangement in Italy from a historical perspective, shedding light on a mass and transnational practice. Using a wide range of trilingual sources (archival and iconographic sources, statistical data and scientific journals, newspapers and magazines, radio programmes, etc.) and focusing on the years between 1967 (approval of the Abortion Act in the UK) and 1981 (referendum confirming decriminalization in Italy), the study reconstructs the evolution of the practice and the transnational network (driven by British gynaecologists, Italian emigrants, Italian and French feminist groups) which made it possible for at least 27,813 Italian women to obtain a safe and legal abortion in London. Our aim is to contribute to the transnational interpretation of the decriminalization process in Italy, highlighting two elements: the political influence of the first European decriminalization laws and the plurality of experiences which influenced the Italian second-wave feminist movement

Sin, Crime, Law: A History of Abortion in Europe

The nineteenth century marked the history of abortion in modern Europe by formalizing its definitive legislative and religious condemnation. During the first half of the twentieth century, attitudes toward abortive practices combined the pro-natalist preoccupations of the French and Italian governments to take a harsher stance during the Second World War, while in Germany such practices became a tool to support the racial and eugenic policies of Nazism. The first signs of change appeared in the mid-1950s, when women’s and feminist movements began to take an interest in the issue. Beginning in the 1970s, “free and freely available” abortion was central to the demands of second-wave European feminism, profoundly updating the public debate on the issue, and prompting changes to laws and customs. During the final decades of the century, the decriminalization laws adopted in numerous European countries eliminated the transgression under certain conditions, but did not make abortion the right asserted by feminist movements

Multiplier les enfants pour s’engager ? Maternité de combat et devotions dans L’Archiconfrérie des Mères Chrétiennes (1860-1870)

Rejection of motherhood was not common during the nineteenth century, when the maternal model was both exalted and disciplined. At the same time, many scholars have highlighted the fact that the reinterpretations of that model weakened some of the interdictions that women with children were subjected to – for example concerning access to the public sphere. The phenomenon is clearly shown by the reinterpretations of motherhood by nationalisms – the Republican Motherhood in the United States or the “patriots mothers” in Italy and in Germany, that allowed many women to take part in the nation-building process. This essay sheds light on the case of the Archiconfrérie des Mères Chrétiennes – a large transnational group of catholic women who made motherhood political by extending the maternal tasks (care, upbringing) from their children to the whole of society. Devotions were crucial in this strategy, providing role models that were both legitimate and prestigious. Focusing on the main devotions of the group, Blanche of Castille, mother of Louis IX, and Monica, mother of Augustin of Hippo, it will be possible to better understand the Mères Chrétiennes’ militant motherhood, showing both the weaknesses and the strengths of their project

Dare madri all’Italia. Patriote e filantrope nel Risorgimento (1848-1871)

Fra il 1848 e il 1871, nella fase più viva del Risorgimento, la democratica Laura Solera Mantegazza fondò a Milano un nido, una società operaia e una scuola professionale. Animate da una fitta rete di patriote, medici e pedagogisti, le tre istituzioni perseguirono il medesimo scopo, ossia migliorare le vite delle donne delle classi lavoratrici e, al tempo stesso, fare di loro delle “buone madri italiane”. Il volume prende le mosse da quest’esperienza per mettere in luce una forma inedita di impegno femminile in favore dell’Unità, la filantropia patriottica, e mostrare come queste militanti del movimento nazionale seppero fare della nazione una presenza quotidiana nelle vite delle lavoratrici, legandola a doppio filo alla maternità e a gesti intimi come l’allattamento