I fiori del male: women in fascist asylums at Casa della Memoria e della Storia

The exhibition 'I fiori del male. Donne in manicomio nel regime fascista' at Casa della Memoria e della Storia in Rome, curated by Annacarla Valeriano and Costantino Di Sante, runs until November 18, 2016. It presents photographic fragments and historical documents from the archives of the Sant'Antonio Abate psychiatric hospital in Teramo, focusing on women interned during the fascist regime. The black-and-white portraits reveal the suffering of mostly peasant women, whose illnesses were pathologized and whose bodies were controlled under Nazi-fascist ideology. The photographs were used to catalog 'defects' and reinforce women's subordinate roles. Letters from patients, such as Haidè B.'s 1920 plea, and the story of Sabina Spielrein—cured in Zurich but executed by Nazis in August 1942—are included. The exhibition aims to restore memory to these forgotten lives.