Ida Braggio 

My name is Ida Braggio, but my maiden name is Ida Del Longo. I was baptized with this name in Domodossola in 1879. In these lines, I will narrate my story — the story of my connection to the Ossola Valley, the story that made me who I was, and, if you have time to listen, I will share it with you. I do not define myself as a native of Domodossola merely by blood but by soul, heart, and mind. I knew I came from a humble mountain family that believed in respect, love, generosity, hospitality, and kindness toward others. I married Cavaliere Francesco Braggio, a postal officer at the station. Everyone called me “Sciura Ida.” I was a journalist and a teacher, but above all, I dedicated myself entirely to others in the city of Domodossola. I served as President of the Information Office during the First World War. We were responsible for maintaining contact between soldiers and their families. Later, I founded the Red Cross Nurses’ Movement at San Biagio Hospital, and in the autumn of 1944, I collaborated with the Provisional Government Council of the Partisan Republic of Ossola in welfare activities.I devoted myself to the restoration of the Collegiate Church façade, to orphans, and to the mothers and widows of fallen soldiers. I spread love for my homeland through my journalistic articles about the events of Ossola, writing also for all my fellow citizens around the world. The book that contains fifty years of my newspaper articles is titled “Little Ossolan World” and was published in 1948. I was named a Knight of the Republic in 1953. I passed away in 1965, and my family chose to remember me with this phrase: “A perennial and total self-donation to the needs of everyone.”