Nuorese Cultural DistrictMarianna Bussalai (b. Orani, 1904–d. Orani, 1947) was an Italian writer, poet, antifascist, supporter of national independence and Sardinian Action Party activist.
Marianna Bussalai
Description
Her mother died when she was just five years old (in 1909).
Marianna and her sister Ignazia were entrusted to their mother’s sister, Grazietta Angioy.
Due to serious health problems, she was only able to attend primary school, her ill health preventing her from going to Nuoro to continue her education.
She educated herself independently, reading works by Sardinian, Italian and Russian writers, translating their texts so that they could be understood by others in her town, and writing poetry.
She decided to devote her entire life to the movement for Sardinian autonomy, the rights of women and the emancipation of the people of Orani, for whom she was both teacher and guide.
Within the walls of her home, she secretly wrote letters to her friends, including Mariangela Maccioni, Graziella Sechi-Giacobbe and Maria Catte, and her party colleagues, like Pietro Mastino, Luigi Oggiano, Titino Melis (brother of Mario) and even Emilio Lussu.
At the invitation of her fellow party members, she participated in the provincial congress of the Sardinian Party with the lawyer and antifascist leader from Nuoro Pietro Mastino, who had founded the Sardinian Party with Lussu and Bellieni.
Until 1926, she was a contributor to Il Solco, the Sardinian Action Party’s newspaper.
She fought for the autonomy and independence of Sardinia because firmly convinced that independence was a populace’s first right, earning the nickname ‘Mariannedda e sos Battor Moros’.
Steadfast and courageous, she openly declared herself antifascist, at the risk of her personal safety.
During the fascist period, she helped Emilio Lussu hide from the fascist police in her own home, under a trapdoor, allowing him to evade capture.
Marianna Bussalai died in 1947, just months before all that she had fought for became reality: in June 1947, the constituent assembly approved Article 116 of the Constitution of the Italian Republic, including Sardinia among the self-governing regions of Italy.