Italian women storytellers from the 1900s

National Women’s History Alliance and the 2023 theme, “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories”

+ Some extraordinary, ordinary Italian women who met the exceptional challenges of life during World War II

The National Women’s History Alliance, which spearheaded the movement for March becoming National Women’s History Month, declared the history theme for 2023, “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories”
The theme highlights the countless women who have used their voice and creativity to tell stories that educate, inspire, and entertain audiences around the world.
"The timely theme honors women in every community who have devoted their lives and talents to producing art, pursuing truth, and reflecting on the human condition decade after decade.
From the earliest storytellers through pioneering journalists, our experiences have been captured by a wide variety of artists and teachers. These include authors, songwriters, scholars, playwrights, performers, and grandmothers throughout time. Women have long been instrumental in passing on our heritage in word and in print to communicate the lessons of those who came before us.
Women’s stories, and the larger human story, expand our understanding and strengthen our connections with each other.”

Four Italian women storytellers from the 1900s

Alba de Céspedes - Novelist Storyteller

Alba de Céspedes y Bertini (1911-97) was born in Rome, the daughter of a Cuban diplomat and his Italian wife. Her grandfather helped lead Cuba’s fight for independence and served as its first president, and she kept alive her family’s political commitment, often running afoul of Italy’s Fascist regime.
The January 2023 New York Times’s review of the recently re-published and newly translated book the Forbidden Notebook called de Céspedes “one of the few distinguished women writers since Colette to grapple effectively with what it is to be a woman."
Read more about her in my latest Substack newsletter.

Jeanne Caròla Francesconi - Culinary Storyteller

Jeanne Francesconi was born on July 12th, 1903 in Naples, in the Spanish Quarter. She was a Red Cross nurse during the First World War and one of the first women to obtain a driver’s license. In 1926 she married the Neapolitan builder and engineer Vincenzo Caròla. She loved Neapolitan cuisine so much that it became her sole object of study and research.
Through interviews with famous chefs, readings of ancient texts and a patient collection of Neapolitan culinary traditions, La Cucina Napoletana was born. From the outset, she aroused great interest in her collection of almost 500 recipes that were written with great clarity and passion. The cookbook was so successful that some American sailors bought whole crates of it to take to the United States.
One of the recipes in this cookbook by Jeanne Caròla Francesconi is for Zeppole di San Giuseppe, a classic Father's Day dessert.

Read more about her in my latest Substack newsletter.

The Marchesa Colombi - Journalistic Storyteller & Prolific author

The Marchesa Colombi was born in 1840 and died in 1920 at age 80. Her career was mainly in the second half of the 19th century. She was the very first woman journalist for the Corriere della Sera. She wrote numerous books (over 40) most of which were translated into French, German and English - published in both Great Britain and America.
The Marchesa Colombi was a prolific writer - 40 plus books - and she adopted a modern writing style that was highly successful. She often wrote about women’s issues, like her book In Risaia which used a fictional format to talk about women’s poor working conditions in the rice fields of Novara in northern Italy. The book was so important at the time that it was cited during a hearing at the Italian parliament regarding the working conditions of women in the rice fields.
Probably her best known work, edited by Italo Calvino, is A Small-Town Marriage. 
Read more about her here.

Emma Stebbins - Storyteller through Sculpture

American sculptress living in Italy

Stebbins, a contemporary of La Marchesa Colombi, is best known for her Central Park sculpture, the Angel of the Waters. Stebbins was the first female sculptress in America to obtain such an important sculpting commission.
The Angel of the Waters (Bethesda) Fountain in Central Park is a bronze, blue stone and Westerly granite sculpture. 
At the encouragement of her brother Henry she moved to Rome in 1856 to study sculpture. In Rome Emma Stebbins met her lifelong partner, actress Charlotte Cushman. They were part of an unconventional ex patriot group of women sculptors and artists in Rome where they were able to enjoy greater artistic and lifestyle freedom.
Read more about her here.

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