Ada Negri from Italy - 1870 - 1945.
People seem to have forgotten that the First World War was fought on many fronts, one of them being in Italy. During the course of my research into female WW1 poets, I have spent a lot of time in our local library. I found this book - "Caporetto and the Isonzo Campaign The Italian Front 1915 - 1918" by John Macdonald with Zeljko Cimpric (Pen and Sword Military Books, Barnsley, Yorkshire, 2011) riveting. Italy declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire on 23rd May 1915 and on Germany on 29th August 1916. Many British troops were sent to take part in that campaign. There is now a museum in Caporetto to the memory of the campaign - Caporetto is now called Kobarid.
One of my favourite WW1 poets is Vera Brittain, whose brother was killed at Anzio in the Italian Campaign. Vera's books are wonderful too - if you haven't yet read any of them I recommend them to you - "Testament of Youth", "Testament of Friendship", "Testament of Experience", "Account Rendered" and of course, her war diary "Chronicle of Youth".
Photo: Italian troops, June 1915
