With the final exams just a few weeks away, the fifth-grade classes at the Othoca Institute in Oristano have chosen to approach that threshold not only with their books open on their desks, but with a story to listen to. This morning , Carla Cossu, president of the Oristano Provincial Committee of the ANPI , entered the main hall to deliver a keynote address entitled "June 2, 1946: From the Right to Vote to the Founding Mothers."

The date at the heart of the meeting is the institutional referendum that called Italians to choose between Monarchy and Republic and to elect representatives to the Constituent Assembly. For Italian women, that day was truly special because, for the first time in history, they were able to exercise their right to vote in a national political election, fully participating in the country's democratic life.

"Talking about that date to students means talking about the foundations of our Republic," explained Carla Cossu. "Eighty years later, it would be a mistake to reduce the 1946 vote to a simple electoral victory. It was the recognition of women's political citizenship and the beginning of a profound transformation, both legal and cultural, that changed the history of this country. Understanding it today is not a rhetorical exercise, but rather a necessary act." The professor guided the students through the composition of the Constituent Assembly: 556 members in total, of whom only 21 were women. A small number, certainly, but far from insignificant. Those twenty-one women came from very different political and cultural backgrounds, often on opposing sides. Yet, when it came to writing the fundamental principles of the Constitution, they were able to put aside ideological divisions to build together a shared vision, founded on equality, human dignity, the protection of childhood and motherhood, democratic participation, and peace. Many of them had been through the Resistance as organizers and fighters.

They had experienced fascist repression, arrests, and confinement. And before that, they had fought an even longer and older battle: against centuries of exclusion from public life. "Their presence within the Constituent Assembly was not symbolic," Cossu emphasized, "it was substantial. Without them, the Constitution that protects us today would not have been the same. It was they who proposed, between the 1940s and 1950s, the demands that later transformed into important legal reforms: from the entry of women into the judiciary, to divorce, abortion, the national health system, to the reform of family law, the abolition of honor killings, and the classification of rape as a crime against the person, rather than against morality."

Headmaster Serafino Piras expressed his satisfaction with the initiative, which is part of a broader program of civic education and democratic memory. "Meetings like this have a value that goes beyond the curriculum," he stated. "And for young people about to take their final exams, a genuine exploration of the Constitution, rights, and the history of the Republic is essential to better understand themselves and the country they live in." For those on the verge of graduation, perhaps, certain stories stop being mere study material and begin to become a compass. And today's story, told with the passion of someone who has preserved it for years, seemed tailor-made to be carried beyond the classroom, beyond the exam, beyond school, and into one's future life.

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