Rosa Maltoni
{{Short description|Mother of Benito Mussolini}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Rosa Maltoni
| image = Rosa Maltoni in Mussolini.jpg
| birth_date = 22 April 1858
| birth_place = San Martino in Strada, Forlì, Papal States
(now in Italy)
| death_date = {{death date and age|1905|02|19|1858|04|22|df=y}}
| death_place = Predappio, Kingdom of Italy
(now in Italy)
| occupation = Teacher
| spouse = Alessandro Mussolini (m. 1882)
| children = {{hlist|Benito|Arnaldo|Edvige}}
| family = Mussolini family
}}
Rosa Maltoni (married Mussolini; 22 April 1858 – 19 February 1905){{Cite book |title=Mussolini. Glorie e disonori del primo Novecento italiano |last=De Giorgi |first=Valentina |year=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=91C2MzaGCykC |publisher=Alpha Test|isbn=9788848304870 }} was the mother of Italian Fascist founder and leader Benito Mussolini.
Personal life
Rosa Maltoni was the mother of Benito, Arnaldo and Edvige Mussolini, the mother-in-law of Rachele Mussolini and the paternal grandmother of Bruno Mussolini, Edda Mussolini, Romano Mussolini, and Vittorio Mussolini. Maltoni was a nominal Catholic schoolteacher who married the socialist Alessandro Mussolini against the wishes of her father.Roberts, Jeremy. Benito Mussolini. A & E; Twenty-First Century Books, 2006. Pp. 10. After Benito, Rosa had three more children, Arnaldo, Laura, and Edvige. She died of meningitis in 1905 when her son, Benito Mussolini, was only 22.
Mussolini was reportedly very attached to his mother, and during the Fascist period, Rosa came to represent the ideal Italian woman.{{Cite book |last=Borneman |first=John |title=Death of the father: an anthropology of the end in political authority |page=41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5tRkseowkKkC&pg=PA41 |year=2004 |publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=9781571811110 }}{{Cite book |title=Freeing the female body: inspirational icons |last=Mangan |first=J.A. |author2=Fan Hong |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EyRvRAXikMAC&pg=PA185 |page=185 |publisher=Psychology Press |year=2001|isbn=9780714650883 }}{{Cite book |last=Ongaro |first=Ercole |title=Il lodigiano nel Novecento. La cultura |publisher=FrancoAngeli |year=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yJXlvc51BpYC&pg=PA100 |page=100|isbn=9788846471420 }}{{Cite journal |title=La "Donna nuova" di Mussolini tra evasione e consumismo |journal=Studi Storici |last=Dittrich-Johansen |first=Helga |volume=36 |date=Jul–Sep 1995 |page=821 |issue=3}} On June 17, 1930, a ceremony was held to honor her as a "great educator and glorious mother."
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maltoni, Rosa}}
Category:19th-century Italian people
Category:Italian Roman Catholics
Category:Deaths from meningitis
Category:Infectious disease deaths in Emilia-Romagna
Category:Neurological disease deaths in Emilia-Romagna
Category:Italian schoolteachers
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