This volume is part of the series ‘Storia delle donne e di genere’ published by Viella in collaboration with the ‘Società italiana delle storiche’. It is a reconstruction of the early Italian women's movement, from its inception during the Risorgimento period, through its development within Liberal Italy and the First World War, up to the establishment of Fascism. Noting the backdrop of the broader history of the country, the book highlights the peculiarities of the Italian movement in the context of the contemporary diffusion of international women's organisations and feminist ideas. From this point of view, Liviana Gazzetta's work fills a historiographical gap, even if Italian historiography – starting from the first studies by Franca Pieroni Bortolotti in the 1960s – has produced much research and many original interpretations on this topic. A noteworthy one is the category of ‘practical feminism’ (femminismo pratico), identified by Annarita Buttafuoco over 30 years ago and widely investigated by other scholars. However, until recently, there has not been an exhaustive study of the theme. Gazzetta provides this analysis, outlining the different phases of a quite diverse movement and tracing its path with respect to civil and political rights, in a country characterised by a deeply hierarchical Civil Code and by gender cultures anchored to a clear division of roles.

The birth of the movement is identified with women's participation in the process of Italian unification, and the intersection between national and female emancipation, supported by a significant group of women belonging to Mazzini's democratic milieu – primarily Annamaria Mozzoni. According to the author, this primacy of the nation at the origin of the women's movement led to its nationalistic overtones in the following century. However, from its very first pages, this book includes personalities, magazines and associations expressing more moderate visions and linked to more conventional female models. With this perspective, dwelling on the different feminisms of the 1890s, Gazzetta analyses the effects of the positivist debate on maternalistic culture, which is considered another peculiarity of the Italian women's movement. She highlights the active presence of women in religious communities as well as the relationship between emancipationist women and the socialist movement, in the context of the social transformation of the country through the increasing presence of women in factories and similar jobs.

However, a national movement in Italy emerged only in the first decade of the twentieth century, during the premiership of Giovanni Giolitti. During that period, the ‘Consiglio Nazionale delle Donne Italiane’ (CNDI, National Council of Italian Women), affiliated with the International Council of Women, was founded and the ‘Comitati Pro Voto’ (Suffrage Associations) were formed. In addition, the ‘Unione Femminile Nazionale’ (National Women's Union) began its activity and became the main component of the previously noted practical feminism, which was rooted in social and reformist actions. In Italy, those years were characterised by the campaign for the vote, in relation to the electoral reform projects and the debate on suffrage for all male adults. However, this suffragist movement appears to have been somewhat moderate: the Italian feminists still placed emphasis on an extension of female activities to the public sphere or on the commitment to transversal initiatives, such as protection of motherhood.

While in the 1910s convergence between the different visions seemed possible, with the advent of the new decade all possibilities faded. Liviana Gazzetta identifies the emergence of an irreversible crisis at this turning point. She detects multiple reasons for this: the divisions between non-religious and Catholic women, which had already emerged at the 1908 Congress promoted by the CNDI; the different positions on the war in Libya; the rift with the socialists and the emergence of nationalistic tendencies; and, last but not least, the rout of the electoral law for male suffrage. The crisis became even more evident with the prevalence of interventionist positions on the First World War. In fact, the majority of women's associations supported the mobilisation of women for war. In line with Europe in general, the postwar period reopened the issue of voting and also marked significant achievements, with the law on the abolition of marital authorisation and the access for women, albeit partial, to public office. But the general Italian political crisis involved the women's movement too, provoking a further fragmentation and accelerating the adherence of important personalities to emergent Fascism or the identification by the younger generation to contemporary political changes. The debate around the law on the administrative vote and its divisive features – as opposed to female universal suffrage – is clear evidence of the situation. According to Gazzetta, Fascism did not mark a watershed for the women's movement, but rather a change in context and mentality which led to the prevalence of ideas and personalities increasingly consonant with it.

To conclude, the book fulfils the objective of outlining an overall picture of the early women's movement in Italy and the author undoubtedly deserves praise for having met the challenge of such a difficult task. Her choice to include under the term ‘feminism’ all forms of female public presence makes the reconstruction very complex and sometimes difficult to follow. Nevertheless, the synthesis provided by Liviana Gazzetta offers many suggestions for further research and to extend the debate about controversial issues in the history of Italian women.