Brunella Gasperini (1918–1979)

Brunella Gasperini was the pen name of Bianca Robecchi. She was born in Milan to a committed anti-fascist family and lived most of her life there and in San Mamete, a small village in Valsolda on Lake Lugano. After a brief spell as a teacher after World War II, she began working as a journalist with the BBC and Italian periodicals. Her column "Ditelo a Brunella," published in Annabella for 25 years opened a frank dialogue with readers on issues such as divorce, abortion, family, and politics. In 1956, she published her first novel, L'estate dei bisbigli (The Summer Whispers), which was followed Io e loro: cronache di un marito (Me and Them: Chronicles of a Husband, 1959), Rosso di sera (Red Sky at Night, 1964) and others. She also published the ironic Il Galateo di Brunella Gasperini (Brunella Gasperini's Manual of Etiquette, 1975) and her autobiography, Una donna e altri animali (A Woman and Other Animals (1978). A selection of her editorials and letters was collected in the volumes Così la penso io (So I Think, 1979) and Più botte che risposte (More Beatings Than Answers, 1981). She married Adelmo Gasperini and had two sons.