Piera Fondelli was born in Poppi in
Tuscany. Her father died before her birth and she moved to
Rome with her mother before 1914. On March 23, 1921, she enrolled in the
Fasci Italiani di Combattimento in Rome with
Ines Donati with whom she attended the
Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma. On 19 October 1922 she took part in the PNF congress held in Naples and on October 28, the twenty-year-old Piera was the head of a small group of twenty women who formed the "honor squad escorting the pennant" and with them participated in the March on Rome. while her husband, who returned to Africa as a fighter, was imprisoned by the British in
Kenya. Informed that Mussolini was freed and founded the
Italian Social Republic in
Northern Italy, Piera moved to
Brescia and started a new collaboration with
Alessandro Pavolini, the party secretary. Here, at the end of 1943, Piera wrote to the Mussolini the desire of fascist women to have a more incisive role in the defense of the country, a project supported by Pavolini and accepted by
Rodolfo Graziani, since many men were needed for the war and women became necessary to assist them and to replace them in the many non-front-line roles. On 18 April 1944, the
Female Auxiliary Service was established under Fondelli's leadership. The auxiliaries initially provided only nursing assistance in military hospitals, work in offices and propaganda, and set up mobile refreshment places for the troops. In the space of twelve months 6,000 young women participate in six training courses, in
Venice and
Como; only then were they assigned to the Commands. After April 25, 1945, the Female Auxiliary Service was dissolved and Pavolini suggested destroying all documentation to avoid reprisals against members. ==References==