Iotti, Nilde (1920–1999)

Italian lawmaker. Born in Reggio Emilia, Italy, in 1920; died of heart failure on December 3, 1999, in Rome; attended the University of Milan; daughter of a railway worker; lived with Palmiro Togliatti (a Communist Party leader), from around 1948 to 1964 (died 1964); children: (adopted, 1950) Marisa Malagoli Togliatti.

The first woman to become president of the lower house of Parliament in Italy, Nilde Iotti was born in 1920 in Reggio Emilia, the daughter of a railway worker. Her birthplace was in the center of Italy's "red belt," and Iotti represented the Communist Party throughout her life. She was a literature student at the University of Milan, then served as a Partisan during World War II, before moving to Rome. There, she fell in love with Palmiro Togliatti, Italy's Communist Party leader, but Togliatti was married and divorce was illegal in Italy. Even so, they lived together until Togliatti's death in 1964 and adopted a daughter Marisa Malagoli Togliatti in 1950 (Marisa's brother had been killed by police during a strike in Modena).

Iotti was initially elected to the constitutional assembly in 1946, taking part in the "Committee of the 75," a delegation that wrote the first draft for Italy's postwar constitution. During her many years in Parliament, she campaigned to legalize divorce and abortion. For 13 years, from 1979 until 1992, Iotti was second in line to succeed the presidency, while serving as Italy's president of the lower house of Parliament. Known as a faithful member of the central committee of the Communist Party, Iotti's views softened with the collapse of the Berlin Wall. She was among the first to propose abandoning the hammer and sickle and renaming the party "Democrats of the Left." After a long illness, Nilde Iotti resigned from her post in November 1999 and died of heart failure the following month. Her coffin was laid in state in the Italian Parliament, and she was given a state funeral.