«History of Education & Children’s Literature», XI, 2 (2016), pp. 497-522 ISSN 1971-1093 (print) / ISSN 1971-1131 (online) © 2016 eum (Edizioni Università di Macerata, Italy) Accomplishing «the silent mission of Italian women at war». The fascist “pedagogy of war” for women: from the kitchen front to the war garden* Anna Ascenzi Department of Education, Cultural heritage and tourism University of Macerata (Italy) anna.ascenzi@unimc.it Marta Brunelli Department of Education, cultural heritage and tourism University of Macerata (Italy) marta.brunelli@unimc.it ABSTRACT: This paper aims to analyse how, against the emergence of World War II, the countries involved in the conflict implemented an educational-propagandistic campaign aimed at mobilizing women in wartime. Both in democratic countries (such as Great Britain and the United States) and dictatorial regimes, this propaganda assumed similar forms and women’s mobilization took the shape of a real call to fight on the domestic front, in its two dimensions of the «kitchen front» and the «war garden». As a result, there was a boom – also in Italy – in training courses, cookbooks, textbooks and popular texts, articles and columns in women’s and general magazines etc. that focused on domestic savings, the fight against food waste, and the production of home-grown vegetables. The paper outlines the features of this pervasive ideological, propagandistic and educational machine * The present article is an enlarged version of the paper presented in Spanish to the XXII Jornadas Internacionals “Educar En Temps De Guerra” held between November 9-11, 2016 at the University of Valencia (Spain). Even though the article is the fruit of close cooperation between the two Authors, Anna Ascenzi is author of the paragraphs 1, 5, 6, and Marta Brunelli of the paragraphs 2, 3, 4. The Authors are especially grateful to Giancarlo Gonizzi (Gastronomic Library of the Barilla Academy, Parma) and to Robert Opie (Museum of Brands, Packaging & Advertising, London) for their support. Final thanks go to Lucy Howell for revising the English translation made by the Authors. Note: the citation in the title is from the booklet of the National Fascist Party: La donna italiana in guerra, Bologna, Ufficio Stampa e Propaganda del P.N.F., 1941, p. 16.