TO Naples, in the Fuorigrotta district, there is an avenue called Bakunin. It is not dedicated to the father of modern anarchism, but to one of his daughters: Maria, known as Marussia. Brilliant and strong-willed woman, she is counted among the pioneers in Italy to obtain university teaching: in 1912, at the age of 39, she was appointed professor of organic technological chemistry in Naples. The “signora”, as she was deferentially called, was a Neapolitan by adoption, a foreign child in an Italy that has been united for a few years which gave her the opportunity to put her talent as a scientist to good use.
Marussia Bakunin, 1873-1960.
The few official images of Marussia Bakunin (1873-1960) show us a smiling woman with graying hair gathered in a bun. evidently, he didn’t like being in the spotlight: his world was the university, the laboratory, the students to follow. And then, the family. A sedentary and well-organized life that denotes a different nature from that of his father Michail, a restless spirit, who dedicated his entire existence to chasing his chimeras.
It is from him that we must start to tell the story of Mary. Why if she ends up in Naples, her father is the cause. Scion of a Russian aristocratic family,Michail made his debut as a professional revolutionary in 1849, in Dresden. Arrested, sentenced first to the death penalty and then to life imprisonment, he was extradited to Tsarist Russia. Common sense would suggest to those who make such a radical life choice not to have a family. But Michail makes head of him. At 43 he ends up in exile in Siberia. Here he meets Antonia Kwiatkowskathe eighteen year old daughter of a Polish revolutionary, falls in love with him and in 1858 they get married.
Another father for Marussia
Three years later, in 1861, Bakunin fled to Japan from where he would later reach Europe. Antonia will have to wait until 1863 to find her husband and leave with him the following year for Italy. «In 1865 the couple moved to Naples, where they remained until August 1867. Bakunin really likes the city for the climate, the lively people, the culture. And coffee» comments Lorenzo Pezzica, historian and editor of the book Trip to Italy by Mikhail Bakunin (Eleuthera).
The eldest son Carlo and his sister Sofia were born in Switzerland, one of the destinations of the family’s constant wanderings. Maria, on the other hand, was born in Siberia, her mother’s homeland, on February 2, 1873. The last born of the Bakunins will have no direct memories of her father: Michail dies when she is three years old. Antonia finds herself a widow with three children to raise. During her stay in Naples, she had become friends with a lawyer, Carlo Gambuzzi, a great admirer and secretary of her husband. It is he who offers support to her Antonia, inviting her to Naples with her children in her villa in Capodimonte. The sympathy soon turns into love and the couple gets married. From their union will be born a girl, Tatiana. “THE little Bakunin siblings Carlo, Sofia and Maria adapted to the Neapolitan environment, finding in Carlo Gambuzzi a “tender father” who accompanied their growth and supported their studieswrites Pasqualina Mongillo, author of Marussia Bakunin. A woman in the history of chemistry (Rubbettino Editore), the only biography of the scientist.
Marussia Bakunin and love born in the laboratory
It is thanks to Gambuzzi that Maria and her brothers can afford the best schools in Naples. Carlo will become an engineer, Sofia will graduate in Medicine and Marussia will be the first Chemistry graduate in Italy. If the study is booming, the emotional life of the teenager Maria is marred by another mourning. Her mother died in 1887, when she was fourteen. With her disappearance, ties with Russian and Polish origins were severed. The girl takes refuge among the books. She is so smart that at the age of just 17 she already attends university laboratories and she is appointed “preparator” at the Chemical Institute.
The director, Agostino Oglialoro-Todaro, noticed it immediately. When in 1895 Marussia manages to graduate at the age of 22, the collaboration with his professor and mentor is going beyond the mere sharing of scientific interests. In the same year, in fact, Marussia and Agostino decide to get married. He is 48 years old, she is 26 younger. The years spent with her husband are a fruitful and exhilarating time. In 1906, she witnesses the eruption of Vesuvius with Agostino which will push her to analyze ashes and lava. Later, she will study ichthyol, which will be followed by many other substances.
In addition to research, he also approaches teaching. In 1912 he obtained the position of professor at the Royal Polytechnic School of Naples. The professor does not know fatigue: she runs from the benches to the laboratory, and at home she organizes a salon frequented by chemistry scholars and intellectuals. As a female university lecturer, Marussia had no role models to look up to at the time. The few Italian graduates do not teach in universities, where they are relegated to secondary roles. There are those who dedicate themselves to the family after graduation: so will their sister Sofia who marries the surgeon Giuseppe Caccioppoli and takes care of their children Renato and Ugo. In addition to Marussia, professorships can be counted on the fingers of one hand: the scholar of Natural Sciences Rina Monti, the botanist Eva Mameli, the pedagogist Maria Montessori. How to behave in a male universe? Biographer Pasqualina Mongillo explains that the path chosen by Marussia is to combine kindness with authority and inflexibility.
Michail Bakunin and his wife Antonia, parents of Marussia.
The defense of the mathematician nephew
This happy era for Bakunin ended in 1925, when her husband died. The couple had no children, and Marussia will not remarry. From this moment on, the memory of Augustine and the affection for her brothers and nephews will be in her heart. No distractions and few concessions to her femininity. When in 1935 she goes to Russia for a congress, she is given a precious chinchilla fur that the professor decides to use as a doormat when she returns. While fascist Italy is slipping more and more towards war, Marussia continues his brilliant career: in 1940 he moves to the Faculty of Science, where he will remain until 1948, the year of his retirementand actively participates in various scientific societies, including the Accademia dei Lincei.
One of the most infamous moments of his life is linked to the German occupation of the city. On 12 September 1943, the Nazis plundered Marussia’s apartment in via Mezzocannone and set fire to the university and the Royal Society with its important library. Mary, now seventy years old, he unsuccessfully solicits the intervention of the firemen, and in the face of delays he doesn’t hesitate to throw himself into the flames to save a few tomes. A minimal part, unfortunately: the library will be lost.
That same year, his brother Carlo died in Argentina, then he had to intervene to defend the favorite nephew, Renato, a great mathematician, who inherited his grandfather’s rebellious genes and opposes the regime. It will be his aunt who saves him after his arrest by convincing the authorities that he is mentally ill. Even the post-war period was not easy: in 1956 his beloved sister Sofia disappeared, Renato committed suicide in 1959 and Marussia took refuge in the home, where he found comfort in the study of languages. Until April 17, 1960, when the “lady” will close her eyes forever.
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