Anna Teresa Formisano's Memoir 'Politica – Storia di una ragazza' Chronicles a Pioneer's Path in Italian Politics

Anna Teresa Formisano, a pioneering Italian politician, has published her memoir 'Politica – Storia di una ragazza' (Cassino, 2024). The book recounts her early career in the 1970s, when she was a young wife, mother, and law graduate, navigating a male-dominated political landscape. Formisano, who served in regional government and the Italian Parliament, reflects on her achievements as a woman in politics and the systemic crisis of modern politics, marked by voter apathy and a decline in moral integrity. The memoir also addresses the ongoing challenges women face in balancing career and family, and the persistence of sexism in language. The article, written by Antonia De Francesco for MIfacciodiCultura, critiques Formisano's use of masculine nouns, referencing Alma Sabatini's 1987 report 'Il sessismo nella lingua italiana' and the Zingarelli dictionary's 1995 chapter on feminine forms of professions. The book serves as a dual admonition for women to remember their origins and for politicians to return to serious engagement with the res publica.