1946: a turning point for Italian Women – Anglo-Italian encounters
Join us for an evening of exploration into Anglo-Italian history in the archives!
The Italian Chamber of Deputies, in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute in London, presents a pop-up exhibition to explore 1946 as a decisive turning point in the political and civic history of Italian women.
Bringing together materials from the Historical Archive and the Nilde Iotti Library of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, alongside books and archival collections held at LSE, the exhibition traces the long struggle for women’s suffrage, the achievement of voting rights, the first vote and the election of the first 21 women to the Constituent Assembly in 1946, and the uneven expansion of women’s political representation in the decades that followed.
Across four thematic sections, the display highlights both landmark moments and the transnational networks through which debates on suffrage, citizenship, political representation, and women’s rights circulated between Italy and Britain, and places the Italian experience within a wider history of European feminism and democratic transformation.
The event will be introduced by Fabrizio Castaldi, Secretary General of the Italian Chamber of Deputies at 5.30pm.
A drinks reception will be held from 6 to 7pm in the LSE Library Gallery, where important documents relating to Giacomo Matteotti will be on display in the exhibition, Stolen! Theft in the archives, with an opportunity to chat with the curators.
Fabrizio Castaldi (Rome, 3 June 1971) is an Italian public official, Secretary General of the Chamber of Deputies. He graduated in law from La Sapienza University in May 1995. He qualified as a barrister and taught Parliamentary Law courses as an adjunct professor at Tor Vergata University and LUISS University in Rome. In June 1999, he won the public competition for parliamentary advisor to the Chamber of Deputies, where he held various positions in the assembly, parliamentary committees and the General Affairs Office. In 2015, he was appointed Deputy Secretary General. On 29 December 2021, the Bureau unanimously appointed him Secretary General of the Chamber of Deputies. He is a lecturer in graduate and postgraduate courses.
The Italian Cultural Institute in London is the official Italian governmental body dedicated to promoting Italian language and culture in England and Wales.
Further information
The British Library of Political and Economic Science, known as LSELibrary, was founded in 1896, a year after the London School of Economics and Political Science. It has been based in the Lionel Robbins Building since 1978 and houses many world class collections, including The Women's Library and the Hall-Carpenter Archives.
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