A Life of Resistance: Ada Prospero Marchesini Gobetti (1902–1968) by Jomarie Alano (review)

While Piero Gobetti and his writings, anti-fascism, and premature death at twenty-four years are well known, the activities of his wife Ada Prospero have not been sufficiently examined until now. Jomarie Alano, translator of the diary Prospero kept during the Italian armed resistance from 1943 to 1945 (Partisan Diary: A Woman's Life in the Italian Resistance, 2014), has produced a full-length book on her life and activities. Divided into ten chapters, the first three describe Prospero's youth, her meeting with Gobetti, their intellectual collaboration, their anti-fascism, their marriage, the birth of their son, and Gobetti's death in France in 1926. Gobetti's fame rests on his championship of a new kind of Liberalism and subsequent fascination by Fascists who beat him brutally, hastening his early death. That such a young person could become so feared by the Fascists as a vehement and effective opponent, and his continuing importance, testify to the quality of his mind and his courage. Gobetti's strength and patriarchal basis in Italian politics at the time does not make it surprising that he dominated the relationship.

Chapters four through seven examine Prospero's life from Gobetti's death through the armed resistance. As a single mother she could not leave for exile. She therefore conducted activities similar to those of others that resisted the regime in the homeland. The translation of books showcasing democratic values in contrast to fascism was one of the most important of these pursuits. Perhaps her most significant project was her translation of British Liberal Politician H.A.L Fisher's famous three-volume A History of Europe. Alano discusses Prospero's work on this translation, with the constant support of her friend Benedetto Croce, and the censorship by the Fascist government that allowed publication of the work but subsequently confiscated all the copies to the great economic detriment of the publisher, Laterza. This episode sheds light not only on Prospero but also on the anti-Fascist resistance in the homeland and on the tactics of the regime.

Another aspect of Prospero's literary militancy was her interest in bringing anti-fascism philosophies to children by writing children's books. Her goal was to counter the Duce's vast propaganda in secondary schools. She invented "Sebastiano" and his tales, a countercurrent rooster who, in contrast to the regime's enforced conformity, is an anti-conformist who refused to follow rules and opposed all the other qualities fascism attempted to inculcate into Italian society. She revived this activity after the fall of fascism, when she took a pronounced interest in educational reform and in trying to make children who had not lived under the regime understand the nature of fascism.

Literary activities alone did not define Prospero's actions. She joined other anti-Fascists, especially members of "Giustizia e Libertà" (gl) in opposing the regime. Alano discusses her moves in avoiding the eagle eyes of the police in her home city of Turin, and their attempts to suppress anti-Fascist activities. After Italy entered World War II, her activities increased and became more dangerous, especially from 1943 to 1945, after Mussolini was overthrown, the German occupation of Northern Italy, and the armed resistance raged. The book ends with Prospero's postwar activities. She concentrated on social welfare work and educational reform and returned to writing children's books. She became active in the fight for women's rights, serving as President of the Unione donne italiane (Union of Italian Women, Udi) for Turin and Piedmont and sought greater recognition of women's roles in the wider resistance movement. She entered politics and was elected Vice Mayor of Turin, the first woman of an Italian city to hold the post. However, her foray into politics ultimately failed.

Alano has done a good job in providing a portrait of Ada Prospero, the difficulties she...