ROSINA FERRARIO 1888-1959

Rosina Ferrario from the Caproni collection Courtesy of Don Fiore

BIOGRAPHICAL BRIEF from Don Fiore, 8-26-03      On January 3, 1913, Rosina Ferrario became the first woman in Italy (and the 8th woman in the world) to receive a pilot's license.      During the First World War, she attempted to organize a 'women aviators volunteer squadron" to retreive wounded soldiers from the front by air, but the idea was summarily rejected by the Italian High Command, which could not conceive placing women so close to the shooting.      She was therefore obliged to restrict her activities to organizing and participating in flying clubs, and did much to encourage other women to pursue aviation.      She obviously had a great love for high altitudes, because her other favorite hobby was mountain climbing!      Ferrario was born at Milan, Italy in 1888 and she died in 1959, though I'm not sure of the exact dates.

 

ONLINE RESOURCES      If you search for Rosina Ferrario using the Google search engine, (8-30-03), you will find about 52 links! Most of them celebrate that fact that she was the first woman to be licensed in Italy. Among the more useful are the following.

THE PIONEERS Saluting the Men and Women of Aviation History      This website is a good place to start your search for information on the life and career of this Italian heroine. Russell Naughton has assembled a number of brief biographies, several very nice photographs and a few selected links. You can access his site by clicking on the title above.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF POWERED FLIGHT Contributed by hellomilano      This website offers one of the best sources in English I have been able to find on the life and career of Rosina Ferrario. Her story is covered at length in this revue of one hundred years of aviation history in Italy. It was written by Henry Neuteboom and offers many important links to other sites of interest. You can access the main article by clicking on the title above.      Of special interest is a collection of photographs of Rosina Ferrario on line at the new Virtual Museum of Lombardy. You can visit it by clicking on the title immediately above.

Rosina Ferrario, la prima aviatrice italiana      This website in Italian offers a very complete story of her life and career. If you need a machine-translation into English, you can click on: English Version - Page One      You will also find a second page on this website which offers even more information on Rosina Ferrario and will be well worth a visit. The machine-translated version leaves a lot to the imagination, but you can access it by clicking on the title just below. English Version - Page Two

 

Rosina Ferrario died in 1959. Personal communication from Don Fiore

 

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