Giovanna Berneri
| Giovanna Berneri | |
|---|---|
Giovanna Berneri
|
|
| Born |
Giovannina Caleffi 5 May 1897 Gualtieri, Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy |
| Died | 14 March 1962 Nervi (Genoa), Liguria, Italy |
| Occupation | School teacher libertarian anarchist activist Writer |
| Spouse(s) | Camillo Berneri (1897-1937) |
| Children |
Maria Luisa Berneri (1918-1949) Giliana Berneri (1919-1998) |
| Parent(s) | Giuseppe Caleffi Caterina Simonazzi Caleffi |
Giovanna Berneri (born Giovannina Caleffi: 5 May 1897 - 14 March 1962) was an educationalist and militant libertarian anarchist. She was born and died in Italy, but, largely for political reasons, spent much of her life in other countries: some of her most productive years were lived in France. After the war, between 1946 and 1962 she edited the Italian language magazine Volontà.
She was born Giovannina Caleffi, but most sources give her forename / Christian name as Giovanna.
Giovannina Caleffi was born into a peasant family in Gualtieri, a small town set in the intensively cultivated countryside between Mantua and Parma. She was one of the five recorded children of Giuseppe and Caterina Simonazzi. While she was still young her father emigrated with his eldest son to the United States. Giovanna attended junior school in Gualtieri and senior school in Reggio Emilia, a half hour train ride to the south. She emerged from her education in 1915 with a teaching diploma. By the time she had already. while at school in Reggio Emilia, come into contact with the socialist currents circulating at the time, taking a great interest in the political seminars conducted by Camillo Prampolini. At the age of fifteen she renounced her catholicism which led to major ructions within the family. One of her teachers was Adalgisa Fochi (1865-1957), already established as a writer and activist member of socialist feminist circles, and later Giovanna's mother in law.
On receiving her teaching diploma in 1915 Giovanna started to work as an elementary school teacher at Santa Vittoria, a quarter of Gualtierei. The next year she obtained a permanent teaching post nearby at Montecchio Emilia, a short distance to the south-east of Parma. It was in 1916 than she met Camillo Berneri, the son of her former teacher, Adalgisa Fochi (1865-1957). Camillo was a high school student and activist member of the Socialist Youth Federation ("Federazione Giovanile Socialista"), an organisation which shortly after this formally abandoned its anarchist ideology. Around this time Camillo relocated to Arezzo, where he was joined by his mother and by Giovanna a year or so later. Camillo and Giovanna fell in love and on 3 January 1917 or 4 November 1917 (sources differ) they were married, with the written permission of their parents, possibly reflecting the fact that they were neither of them yet 21.
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