Women in history: Sofia Bisi Albini, a “strong little woman”

“THE‘the time to do well is now.'” If the form sounds old (after all, it is said that Catherine of Siena was the first to say it, in the middle of the fourteenth century) the meaning of the phrase is more than current: it is immortal. This motto was used by Sofia Bisi Albini, born in 1856when he founded during the First World War the League of Sowers of Couragea name that is too intriguing not to delve deeper into.

And exactly The sower of courage the first work by Antonella Giuffrè (tre60 editions) is called, which tells the story of Maria, left alone to manage the family properties in the Iblei mountains when her husband Pietro leaves for the Great War. After meeting Sofia in Palermo, Maria will become a sower.

«When Sofia passes by Maria, an instant before leaving the building, the two lock eyes: it is a silent exchange of understanding, a marriage of promises. An alliance from woman to woman, where courage and awareness of one’s abilities act as witnesses» writes Giuffrè. Maria is conquered by it. And in this role as sower she will be godmother to a soldier who writes to her from the Isonzo front, intertwining their destinies. After all, everyone says that Sofia is too charismatic, you can’t resist her, and the Maria of the novel is no exception.

Manzoni’s appreciation

But who was this Sofia Bisi Albini? Sofia Albini (not yet Bisi) is Milanese and from a good family. She was born in Palazzo Melzi in via Manin, the third of ten children who will be raised in the beautiful family villa in Robbiate. It is said that she was a good pen from an early age, so much so that her first and passionate biographer, Elisa Majer Rizzioli (a singular figure of a tenacious feminist of Jewish origin who enthusiastically joined fascism in the period in which the movement seemed to “open up” to women) says that even the old Alessandro Manzoni had time to appreciate his scholastic writings: In short, Sofia promises very well.

In Milan she attended the girls’ high school. He wrote short stories and then at the age of twenty-three a novel to which he gave a title that says it all, Strong little womanpublished by the Milanese publisher Carrara in 1879, which merited a preface by Antonio Fogazzaro. Except that Sofia doesn’t want to write for the pleasure of it. After the success of Donnina forte he let eight long years pass before publishing a new novel. He will write others, all successful, including A brood (1890), Little men and women (1893) e Grazia’s son (1898) which will be compared in importance to Pinocchio And Heart. But before being the author of fiction and then of school textbooks and children’s books, she wants to be an intellectual capable of impacting her present reality, doing her part in every sense to promote the spread of culture among women.

Writes for Perseverance and for the Corriere della Sera, she was appointed inspector of nursery schools and then of elementary schools. Meanwhile, at twenty-six, she marries the sculptor Emilio Bisi, from a family of artists. She will give him four children: Gigi, Maso, Antonietta and Camilla. He writes textbooks suitable for early elementary gradestranslated from the English Misunderstood by Florence Montgomery (which will make entire generations cry) and My Wife and I by Beecher-Stowe, famous for having written Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

The debate on the vote for women

In 1894 she founded the magazine for young ladies, in whose pages a good education and economic independence through work are presented as an indispensable completion of the traditional female role in society. Two years Afterwards, the first library for young women from the working class opened in Milanan initiative that culminated in 1898 in foundation of the “Luigi Rossari” clubwhich takes its name from the pedagogist friend of Manzoni.

In 1906 the family moved to Rome, where Sofia launched the monthly magazine Italian female life for which her husband will design the covers while she works to raise funds. Its magazine boasts prestigious names, from Maria Montessori to Ersilia Majno Bronzini to Amelia Rosselliand hosts pages by Grazia Deledda, by Neera, by the Marchesa Colombi. The monthly magazine is a training ground for expressing even divergent opinions in the great debate on key issues such as voting for women and publishes the reports of the National Council of Italian Women. The two magazines, the Roman one and the Milanese one, will be unified in 1914, on the eve of the warin Our magazine, a substantial periodical that will promote Sofia’s pragmatic initiatives aimed at supporting the war effort.

War creates a need for assistance that the State is unable and perhaps does not want to satisfy. They are the volunteers who take care of the soldiers’ children, send woolen clothing to the fighters, assist the wounded and maimed, lend a hand to the illiterate or to those who only know how to write their own name. Sofia opens kindergartens in Milan for the children of soldiers and founds the National League of Sowers of Courage. Like many, she changed her mind, because at first she was against the war, and then she became an interventionist. His two sons, Gigi and Maso, are at the front: she knows something about what it feels like to have a loved one in the trenches. «Initiatives such as the League of Sowers of Courage, inevitably destined to become a breeding ground for female fascism, represent a rather natural evolution of its pragmatic feminism, nourished by Risorgimento ideals, which calls women to actively participate in the life of the country» writes Professor Rita Carrarini in her portrait of Sofia for theenciclopediadelledonne.it.

Writing as a propaganda tool

The volunteers who will become sowers are teachers, students, employees, even housewives with a good level of educationAnd. More educated than average and certainly not in a disadvantaged economic condition. They see in these initiatives the opportunity to enhance their skills, to act on social issues and to grasp Sofia’s battle cry: we must do good now. The idea was to transform writing into a propaganda tool.

«From the pages of the magazine Sofia invited readers to write short messages of patriotic encouragement. Those deemed most convincing were reproduced on postcards and sent to the fighters. The association had notable success” explains Professor Augusta Molinari in the proceedings of the 2015 conference Women in the First World War. Writing is also important in wartime godfatherism. The godmother is usually a woman of good social standing who writes to the soldiers at the front. In the case of the officers, it was an equal relationship between people of the same class and the same culture. In the case of the troop, it was a work of charity. «The names of soldiers from disadvantaged families were reported to the “godmother”. The “godmother” sent these soldiers a gift package containing essential clothing. The task of the “godmother” was to write short patriotic propaganda messages on the postcard that accompanied the package” writes Professor Molinari.

“Bridges between the people and the upper classes”

The recipients are usually very grateful to the unknown lady who takes care of them. Even the postcard becomes a talisman to keep on you to protect yourself in battle. In the words of Elisa Majer Rizzioli, the sowers of courage were “nurses, directors of charitable works, sisters of nurseries”. THEMajer is full of admiration for Sofia: «We owe the establishment of the nurseries for the children of soldiers and the Sowers of Courage completely to her. They were our first two demonstrations of social solidarity, bridges built by her with a masterly hand, between the people and the upper classes. Sofia Bisi Albini was our first sower of courage». She wasn’t beautiful, Sofia. Even the protagonists of his novels are never distinguished by particular physical attractiveness. She was tall and thin and wore her elegant clothes very well, which she had deliberately made more modest during the war, but her features were too marked, with a large nose. However, she seemed to become splendid when she spoke, due to the passion she put into her speech. The sower of hope Sofia Bisi Albini continues her work even when the symptoms of the evil that will lead her to the grave appear. Ada Negri will write in L’Illustrazione italiana a poetic obituary for her friend who passed away in July 1919 at the age of 63 in San Michele di Pagana, on the Gulf of Tigullio, shortly after the meeting with Maria fictionalized by Giuffrè.