I diari di Irene Bernasconi: memorie di una vita faticosa nell’Agro romano (1915-1919)

Abstract

After attending a Montessori course, Irene Bernasconi (1886-1970) went to work in one of the first Casa dei Bambini opened in 1915 by the Ente Scuole per I Contadini in an unhealthy place in Latium. Reading her diaries allows us to intercept traces of the authentic everyday life of children who made small achievements that deeply marked their lives and those of their families. The numerous, diverse, and rich material she left us, most of which still kept by her heirs and unpublished, is an historical-educational heritage that proves to be an ideal source for Public History of Education. Irene Bernasconi’s is a powerful autobiographical testimony that also highlights the living conditions of the forgotten peasants of the Agro Romano. It is a story meaningful, useful, and inclusive. Thanks to her strong, colourful language, the public is not insensitive and understands the many challenges she had to face.