Lisa Sergio

Lisa Sergio (Italian-American, 1905–1989) was a radio news broadcaster in Italy under Mussolini who became a leading anti-Fascist broadcaster and one of the first women to have her own radio news commentary program. She was the only woman Variety included in its 1945 analysis of 30 popular radio news commentators. Sergio died on June 22, 1989, in Washington, D.C.

Early life

Lisa Sergio was born Elisa Maria Alice Sergio in Florence, Italy on March 17, 1905. Her father was Baron Agostino Sergio, a landowner and her mother was Margherita Fitzgerald, daughter of Charles Hoffman Fitzgerald of Baltimore, Maryland, and Alice Lawrason Riggs from Virginia. Her parents separated in 1910, after her father attempted to shoot her mother.

Journalistic career in Italy In 1922, Sergio became an associate editor of the Italian Mail, the only English-language weekly in Italy, eventually becoming the assistant editor and then the editor. Known as "the Golden Voice of Rome," Sergio was one of the first women broadcasters in Italy. Having grown up speaking both Italian and English at home, Sergio translated Benito Mussolini's speeches into English on the air. By most accounts, she was supportive of Mussolini and fascism until at least 1937, but according to biographer Stacy Spaulding, when Sergio did convert to anti-fascism, her "conversion was authentic and heartfelt." Although Sergio's commentary has been dismissed as being of interest mainly to women, "A Column of the Air" was intended to address the crisis in Europe and her address to all listeners was made possible, according to Spaulding, by WQXR's programming decision to address its listeners in terms of culture and education rather than strictly in terms of gender. "A Column of the Air" broadcast seven times a week from 1939 to 1946, when WQXR cancelled all its news commentary.

Other writing

Sergio was also the author of several books, including a biography of Anita Garibaldi and a biography of lawyer and clubwoman Lena Madesin Phillips

The American University of Rome

Sergio, along with David Colin and Giorgio Tesoro, founded The American University of Rome in 1969 in the firm belief that education was the only way to prevent the world from tearing itself apart for a third time in a century. International understanding, firmly rooted in American democratic values, was the key to a peaceful and productive future .

Death

Sergio died on June 22, 1989, at her home in Washington, D.C.