Teresa Mattei

Teresa Mattei, also known as Teresita (1 February 1921 - 12 March 2013) was an Italian partisan and politician.

Background
Born in Genoa, Mattei in 1938 was expelled from all schools of the Regno d'Italia for openly criticizing in her classroom the Racial laws. Graduated in philosophy at the University of Florence in 1944, she was a partisan with the nom de guerre "Partigiana Chicchi". She took part at the killing of philosopher and Fascist minister Giovanni Gentile.

After the war, Mattei was a candidate for the Communist Party to the Constituent Assembly, in which she served as a secretary Bureau. Mattei was the youngest elected to the Constituent Assembly and was so called "the girl of Montecitorio".

Expulsion
In 1957 Mattei was expelled from the Italian Communist Party because of her opposition to Stalinism and to the Togliatti politics. She later became national director of the Italian Women Union (UDI) and introduced the use of mimosa for the Women's Day: at the request of Luigi Longo. Mattei felt that the French symbols of IWD, violets and lilies of the valley, were too scarce and expensive to be used in poor, rural Italian areas, so she proposed the mimosa as an alternative.

She died in Lari at 92. She was the last living female member of the Constituent Assembly.