Donna Paola Baronchelli Grosson

Paola Baronchelli Grosson (1866–1954), a noblewoman born in Bergamo, wrote under the pen name Donna Paola. A feminist and interventionist, she was a coeditor of the journal Scena Illustrata in Florence for 20 years and an established author before the war began. Baronchelli was a prolific author, writing articles, short stories, dramas, novels, and children's books. During the war (when she was about 50), she wrote two important books examining the roles of women in wartime. Her book from 1917, La donna della nuova Italia, is available on microfilm and is perhaps the most cited contemporary source about Italian women and the Great War.

Works by Donna Paola
La donna della nuova Italia: Documenti del contributo femminile alla guerra(maggio 1915 - maggio 1917). Milano: Auintieri, 1917.
La funziona della donna in tempo di guerra. Firenze: Bemporad, 1915.
Articles in Assistenza civile

Further Reading
Belzer, Allison Scardino. Women and the Great War: Femininity under Fire in Italy. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.