Virgilia D'Andrea

Virgilia D'Andrea (11 February 1888 – 12 May 1933) was an Italian anarchist poet and political activist. A prominent free love advocate and noted anti-fascist, she may be best remembered as the author of Tormento (Torment), a book of poetry first published in 1922.

Biography

Early years Virgilia D'Andrea was born in the town of Sulmona, located in the Abruzzo region of Italy, on 11 February 1888. Her family died when Virgilia was a young girl; thus from the age of six she was enrolled in a Catholic boarding school. D'Andrea would remain in Catholic boarding school until her eventual graduation to become a teacher.

During the course of her education D'Andrea read hundreds of books, developing an affinity for poetry and assimilating radical anarchist politics during her self-directed intellectual journey. In 1917 she met leading anarchist journalist Armando Borghi at a meeting of a radical trade union which Borghi headed.

D'Andrea was politicized by the bloodshed of World War I and she left teaching to join the movement against Italian participation in the war.

Writings In 1922, she published her first book of poetry, Tormento (Torment), a work featuring an introduction by leading Italian anarchist Errico Malatesta. Thematically, her material reflected the tension of social protest prevalent in Italy in the aftermath of the war and expressed the author's anger and angst in the wake of political defeats dealt the Italian workers' movement in the period. The book was well received, with a total of 8,000 copies sold.

In 1929 a second edition of Tormento was published in Italy, the government of which was by then firmly controlled by fascist leader Benito Mussolini. A collection of writings, including poetry, prose, and autobiographical reminiscences, Torce nella Notte (Torches in the Night) was published in New York shortly after D'Andrea's death.

Footnotes

Works Tormento. 1922. Second edition: Paris: La Fraternelle, 1929. L'Ora di Marmaldo. Brooklyn: Libreria editrice Lavoratori Industriali del Mondo, 1925. Torce nella Notte. New York: n.p., 1933.