Rosa Errera

Rosa Errera (13 July 1864 – 13 February 1946) was an Italian writer, translator, and teacher. Her most well known work, published in 1921, was about the poet Dante Alighieri.

Biography

Errera was born in Venice on July 13, 1864 to Cesare, a Jew of Spanish origin, and to Luigia Fano, from Mantua, Italy. Her father was a stockbroker who moved the family from Venice to Trieste after a serious financial downturn. After his death, the remaining family returned to Venice to live in the home of a paternal uncle who, despite having five children of his own, took in Rosa and her three siblings, Emilia (1866–1901), Carlo (1867-1936), and Anna Errera (1870-1940).

After completing her high school studies in Venice, Errera settled in Florence, where she attended the Higher Institute of Magisterium under the guidance of an influential teacher Enrico Nencioni, who had taught Italian literature there since 1884 and who was highly regarded as an interpreter of English writers.

Her educational goals took different forms in her writings. Sometimes, Errera wrote an appealing story, but intended that the story would be only the pretext to giving a lesson, going on to incorporate useful lifestyle tips or encouragement to follow good behavior. In this way, she was able to reach the children of the bourgeoisie to whom these stories were inevitably addressed. By simply reading a good story, she found she was able to teach a wide range of good life lessons to new audiences. According to Paesano, Five editions of the text were published between 1921 and 2010 in Italian and English. (Dante remains Errera's most widely available book, which, as of 2020, is still available in print with copies held by 34 WorldCat member libraries worldwide.)

Later writing Errera's popular biography about Daniele Manin (Manin, 1923) told a patriotic story about the 19th century President of the Venetian Republic and leader of the Risorgimento (Italian unification movement) in Venice in May 1849. Manin headed the city's desperate resistance against the occupying Austrians.

In 1925, she published at least two more books, and those were followed in 1932 by two at least more, L'asino d'oro e Latre Favole di Animali di Fori and La Storia di Peter Pan.

Years of Fascism

With the rise of fascism, Errera began experiencing increasing conflict because of her Jewish heritage. When she refused to pay tribute in her books to the new fascist regime, thousands of her printed works were destroyed, "sent to the pulp, never reprinted." To earn a living, she worked as a translator and directed "a series of Italian and foreign classics together with Maria Mariani."

Beginning in 1938, Errera became a direct victim of new racial laws targeting Jews. She was suddenly prohibited from selling her books or from consulting resources at libraries. Achille Norsa recalls that, as a result, her home was frequented by scholars that included Angiolo Orvieto, Silvio Spaventa Filippi, Clemente Rebora and Giuseppe Antonio Borgese, who called her residence a "temple of freedom," for the "firm opposition to fascism" and the "faith in freedom."

According to Paesano, the most intense racial persecutions took place at the end of 1943. To survive during that time, Errera was saved from being deported thanks to her friend and sometime co-author Teresa Trento, "who kept her hidden in her home for over a year and a half."

Errera died in Milan on 13 February 1946 at 81 years of age.

Selected works Some of Errera's books are still widely available in libraries worldwide, some in several editions. In total, she has been credited with 28 works in 53 publications in two languages.

Good people. For young girls, Milan. 1891 Michelino, sketches illustrated by G. Amato, Milan. 1891 Wrong voices and ways. Essay to correct idioticisms and other errors of Milanese use (written with her sister Emilia Errera), Milan. 1898 Grandfather and grandson and other short stories, Milan. 1899 Little gentlemen (a reading book for male fourth graders), Turin. 1902 Without breakfast, Milan. 1902 A story of umbrellas, Milan. 1902 Little gentlemen (a reading book for male fifth graders), Milan. 1903 A century ago, Milan. 1903 Lorenzo de 'Medici. Selected and annotated readings, Florence. 1906 As people who think their way, Milan. 1907 Galileo Galilei and his school. Selected and annotated readings, Florence. 1908 Italy, anthology, written with T. Trento, Milan 1908 Gioconda and Micin, Milan. 1910 Palestine. Notes for youth, Milan. 1918 Chicco (readings for the second grade class), Turin. 1920 Filiberto the carpenter, Turin. 1920 What the chestnut told, readings for the second element, Turin. 1920 Difficult times, Turin. 1920 Dante, Florence. 1921 Piccoletta, for children, Florence. 1923 The lamp and other stories, Milan. 1932

Grammar booklet for third class elementary, Florence. 1933 Towards the new school (preparation book for the entrance exams to middle schools, for the pupils of Lombardy, in collaboration with T. Trento and A. Molinari), Florence. 1933 A magician of the theater: G . Goldoni, Turin. 1934 As they say, Turin. 1936

Selected translations:

I. Fiorenza, The children's heart, Florence. 1923 K. Wiggin Douglas, Rebecca of Rio Sole, Florence. 1923 H. Heine, Poems, Milan. 1925 M. Craik Dinali, Life for Life, Turin. 1930