«Missionarie di fede»: il Movimento italiano femminile in provincia: struttura e attività (1946-56)

The article aims to analyse the peripheral reality of the Movimento Italiano Femminile (Italian Female Movement – MIF). The MIF was a prominent neofascist organisation in Italy, founded by Princess Maria Elena De Seta Pignatelli in the aftermath of World War II. On the one hand, the women of the MIF (the so-called “Miffine”) aided the Italian fascists on the run and the ones detained until the early 1950s. At the same time, the movement was a forerunner of the political party Movimento Sociale Italiano (Italian Social Movement – MSI). With this in mind, the article takes a bottom-up approach and provides an overview of the organisation and activities of the MIF at a local level: the movement established a nationwide network with sections, regional committees and a national assembly. To legitimise its presence, the organisation recruited high-ranking aristocratic women to serve as figureheads, while the real driving force came from ordinary women: Fascist believers, wives of local hierarchs, and former leaders of provincial female organisations such as Fasci Femminili. Through its charitable activities, the MIF became a focal point for former fascists and their families. Moreover, the movement provided a link between the emerging neo-fascist network and the community of fascist criminals detained in Italian prisons until the early 1950s.