Maria Piazza

Maria Piazza (1894–1976) was an Italian mineralogist and educator who earned her doctorate at the University of Rome and received the Italian Order of Merit for being a clandestine teacher of Jewish children who had been removed from Italian schools during the fascist occupation of the city in World War II.

Biography Piazza was born in Ariano di Puglia (currently Ariano Irpino, in the province of Avellino) on 2 July 1894.

She attended the University of Naples and graduated in 1916 with an undergraduate degree in chemistry, which allowed her to begin teaching in middle school. In 1925, she continued her education at the University of Rome and completed her doctoral studies there. She went to volunteer at the Institute of Mineralogy for several years. In 1932, she earned teacher qualifications in mineralogy even as she was teaching in several Roman high schools (including the exclusive Visconti high school) and became an editor of the geology and mineralogy volumes of the Italian Encyclopedia. During her work there, Piazza is said to have distinguished herself as an "expert and demanding teacher."

She died in 1976.

Honours

She was appointed Commander, Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.