Early years Virgilia D'Andrea was born in the town of
Sulmona, located in the
Abruzzo region of
Italy, on 11 February 1888. Her family died when Virgilia was a young girl; thus from the age of six she was enrolled in a
Catholic boarding school. D'Andrea would remain in Catholic boarding school until her eventual graduation to become a teacher. During the course of her education D'Andrea read hundreds of books, developing an affinity for poetry and assimilating radical anarchist politics during her self-directed intellectual journey. In 1917 she met leading anarchist journalist
Armando Borghi at a meeting of a radical
trade union which Borghi headed. D'Andrea was politicized by the bloodshed of
World War I and she left teaching to join the movement against Italian participation in the war.
Writings In 1922, she published her first book of poetry,
Tormento (Torment), a work featuring an introduction by leading Italian anarchist
Errico Malatesta. Thematically, her material reflected the tension of social protest prevalent in Italy in the aftermath of the war and expressed the author's anger and angst in the wake of political defeats dealt the Italian workers' movement in the period. The book was well received, with a total of 8,000 copies sold. In 1929 a second edition of
Tormento was published in Italy, the government of which was by then firmly controlled by
fascist leader
Benito Mussolini. A collection of writings, including poetry, prose, and autobiographical reminiscences,
Torce nella Notte (Torches in the Night) was published in New York shortly after D'Andrea's death. ==Footnotes==