Bologna, 8 March 1955 – International Women’s day. Anna and Angela were arrested in front of the Ducati Motor factory as they were handing out mimosa flowers – the symbol of female emancipation in post-war Italy – and were sentenced to a month’s detention at the prison of San Giovanni in Monte, today the site of the Department of History of the University of Bologna.
Sixty years later, San Giovanni in Monte is the place where historians bring back to light the stories of thousands of women and men fired from many factories in the Fifties due to their affiliation to left wings political parties and trade unions.
In the height of the Cold War and the violent repression perpetrated by the police against the workers’ movement during strikes and protests, even a harmless flower like the mimosa was considered a subversive symbol.