Depuis l’essor du féminisme dans les années soixante-dix, les écrivaines ont commencé à occuper une place importante dans le panorama littéraire italien. Parmi les thématiques les plus souvent traitées, celle de la mère et de la maternité représentent un intérêt constant. Loin de reproduire l’habituel stéréotype de la mamma italienne, les écrivaines ont contribué à une déconstruction progressive des mythes inhérents à cette figure centrale dans la culture et la société. Les années soixante-dix ont été caractérisées par le refus de la maternité en tant que vocation naturelle de la femme, en lien avec les revendications féministes de disposer de son corps, (légalisation de l’avortement, développement de la contraception, révision du droit de la famille). Dans les années quatre-vingt et jusqu’au milieu des années quatre-vingt-dix, le thème de la relation mère-fille s’est imposé comme une réhabilitation des mères du passé. Le genre autobiographique s’est affirmé dans cette phase sous d’autres formes. Depuis le milieu des années quatre-vingt-dix et jusqu’à nos jours, la nouvelle génération d’écrivaines tend à faire de la mère dans les récits une femme tourmentée, inadaptée, instable voire un être monstrueux qui peine à remplir son rôle et met la vie de ses enfants en danger. Dans cette optique, une partie des héroïnes font d’ailleurs le choix de ne pas devenir mères. Parmi les auteures analysées : Dacia Maraini, Carla Cerati, Giuliana Ferri, Gina Lagorio, Francesca Duranti, Francesca Sanvitale, Fausta Cialente, Elena Ferrante, Simona Vinci, Letizia Muratori, Alina Marazzi, Cristina Comencini. / Since feminism emerged in the seventies, women writers have occupied an increasingly important place in the Italian literary panorama. Among the most dealt with subjects, those of the mother and motherhood have been of constant interest. Far from reproducing the usual stereotype of the Italian mamma, women writers have contributed to a progressive deconstruction of the myths inherent to that central figure of the culture and society. The seventies were characterized by the refusal of motherhood as a natural vocation of women, in connection with the feminist claims to own and control their own bodies, (abortion right, development of contraception, revision of the family law). In the eighties and until the middle of the nineties, the theme of the mother-daughter relationship imposed itself as a rehabilitation of the mothers of the past. The autobiography asserted itself at that stage under other forms. Since the middle of the nineties and until today, the new generation of women writers has tended to turn the mother of the narrative into a tormented, maladapted and unstable woman, even a monstrous being who fails to play her role, and puts her children’s lives in danger. This might be the reason why some heroines actually make the choice not to become mothers. Among the women writers studied: Dacia Maraini, Carla Cerati, Giuliana Ferri, Gina Lagorio, Francesca Duranti, Francesca Sanvitale, Fausta Cialente, Elena Ferrante, Simona Vinci, Letizia Muratori, Alina Marazzi, Cristina Comencini.

Affrontando lo studio della Letteratura Italiana risulta evidente l'omissione dai manuali, ad eccezione di Primo Levi, degli scritti di coloro che sono stati deportati tra il 1939 e il 1945 in seguito alle persecuzioni razziali. Il tempo trascorso dalla Shoah ha, invece, dimostrato la presenza di un ingente quantità di opere che costituiscono il corpus della Letteratura Concentrazionaria, ossia la letteratura dei campi di concentramento. Gli autori di questa letteratura sono poco conosciuti e considerati minori, ma la loro scrittura raggiunge spesso un'ineguagliabile altezza intellettuale, morale, stilistica. La narrazione dei loro ricordi traumatici è il risultato di precise decisioni: quali fatti raccontare, in che ordine cronologico, ma soprattutto attraverso quale forma. Questi testi concentrazionari, infatti, possono essere studiati da diversi punti di vista, quello più inusuale è la divisione per generi: racconto, autobiografia, saggio, romanzo, diario, lettera, poesia. Non sempre la distinzione fra questo o quel genere è netta, ma è molto significativo che a partire da una tragedia, quale l'Olocausto, si possa scegliere di raccontare la propria esperienza prestando attenzione al modo di esprimerla. È il primo segno che dimostra quanto anche di fronte al male l'uomo non perda il desiderio di ricercare il vero ed il bello. / Such a long time has passed since the end of the Shoah and it has become clear that there are a lot of works written in those years which now form the corpus of literature based on the experiences in concentration camps. The authors of these works are not very well-known and they are usually considered minor but their works have often reached highly intellectual, moral and stylistic results. The narration of their traumatic memories is the result of precise decisions, i.e. what to tell, in what chronological order, but especially in what forms. The texts based on the experiences in concentration camps can in fact be studied from different points of view. The most unusual is their study through genres: short story, autobiography, essay, novel, journal, letter, poetry. The distinction between one genre and another is not often clear-cut. What is interesting to underline is that in front of a tragedy, as the Holocaust was, it is possible to choose to tell one's own experience by paying special attention to the way of expressing it. This is evidence that in front of evil man does not ever lose the desire to look for truth and beauty.