33 Sylwia SKUZA Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń The social and legal status of women in Italy between the XIX and XXI centuries This issue mainly concerns women's rights to have the active and passive right to vote, to have the opportunity to perform a public function, to work, to receive a fair salary, obtain an education and to have the right of physical integrity and autonomy. The struggle to achieve the above mentioned rights for Italian women seems to be one of the most difficult in Europe. The status of women before Italian Unification Before Italian Unification women's efforts were concentrated on attempts to obtain the right to vote at general elections. Women were aware of the fact that only the achievement of the right to vote could make them equal with men on a social level. However, in those days, a woman's place was in the home: she was an Angel of the hearth and home; she was supposed to fulfill the social roles of wife, mother and daughter. Hundreds of Italian proverbs (Skuza 2010) that can be quoted indicate the woman's role in Italian society, e.g.: Gli uomini fanno la roba e le donne la conservano. Men produce, women preserve. Moglie e sardine vanno chiuse in scatoline. Wives and sardines should be closed in their boxes. Tre volte la donna deve uscir di casa in tutta la sua vita: Quando va a battesimo, quando va a marito, e quando va a sepoltura. Throughout the term of a woman's life she should leave home only three times: when she is christened, when she gets married and when she is buried. Talking about the status of women in Italy before Unification, I should mention the silhouette of Anna Maria Mozzoni (1837-1920), suffragette and author of the book La donna e i rapporti sociali (Woman and social relations), who believed that a woman should protest against the contemporary situation and should insist on the necessary reforms for either giving the simple woman the opportunity to be selected, or through the right to select another in the general election. The book, followed by petitions addressed to the Italian Parliament by Mozzoni regarding open discussions in Parliament on this issue, first resumed and then suspended throughout the years 1877-1883; However, they did not in any way question the electoral rights of women. In 1890 Mrs. Mozzoni again made efforts to further push for a project of constituency for women, but again it was a failed attempt mainly due to a lack of support for the initiative by Italian deputies. In 1906 Mozzoni sent another petition asking them to