Teresa Mattei | |
|---|---|
 Teresa Mattei in 1946 | |
| Member of the Constituent Assembly | |
| In office 25 June 1946 – 31 January 1948 | |
| Constituency | Florence |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1921-02-01)1 February 1921 Genoa, Italy |
| Died | 12 March 2013(2013-03-12) (aged 92) Casciana Terme Lari, Italy |
| Political party | Italian Communist Party |
| Alma mater | University of Florence |
| Occupation | Teacher |
Teresa Mattei, also known asTeresita (1 February 1921 – 12 March 2013), was anItalianpartisan and politician.
Born inGenoa, in 1938 Mattei was expelled from all schools of theKingdom of Italy for openly criticizing theRacial laws in class.[1][2] Graduating in philosophy at theUniversity of Florence in 1944,[3] she joined thepartisans under thenom de guerre of Partigiana Chicchi.[1][4] She took part in the murder of philosopher and Fascist ministerGiovanni Gentile.[5][6]
After the war, Mattei was a candidate for theCommunist Party to theConstituent Assembly, in which she served as a bureau secretary. Mattei was the youngest to be elected to the Constituent Assembly and was thus called "the girl ofMontecitorio".[1][4]
She marriedBruno Sanguinetti, with whom she had a son, writerGianfranco Sanguinetti.
In 1957 Mattei was expelled from theItalian Communist Party because of her opposition toStalinism and toPalmiro Togliatti's politics.[4] She later became national director of theItalian Women Union [it] (UDI) and introduced the use ofmimosa forInternational Women's Day (IWD)[1] at the request ofLuigi Longo.[7] Mattei felt that the French symbols of IWD,violets andlilies of the valley, were too scarce and expensive to be used in poor, rural Italian areas, so she proposed the mimosa as an alternative.[4][8][7]
She died inLari, Tuscany, aged 92,[7] the last living female member of theConstituent Assembly of Italy.[1]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
