Maria Montessori: ‘The child is the savior of humanity’

On the occasion of the International Congress for the 150th anniversary of Maria Montessori’s birth, Pope Francis called her “one of the most eminent figures of the cultural scene of the 20th century, who left a profound mark on education and on society as a whole […] for the construction of a more fraternal and peaceful world. […] May this significant anniversary encourage generous dedication in favor of the new generations, to form people of solidarity, citizens of the world open to dialogue and acceptance.”[1]

The pedagogical work of Montessori (1870-1952) has spread in an extraordinary way throughout the world.  Today there are 65,000 schools in 145 countries, including kindergartens, elementary, middle and high schools. There are approximately 200 in Italy, 4,400 in the United States, 1,100 in Germany, 800 in the United Kingdom, 375 in Ireland, and 460 in the rest of Europe. The International Montessori Association has affiliate schools in Mongolia, Mexico, Colombia, as well as Belarus and Pakistan. There are also such schools in Africa, Australia and New Zealand.[2]

More than 150 years after her birth, to what is Montessori’s success due, given that she is  proclaimed “the most famous Italian woman ever?”[3]

One plant for me and one for God

Montessori, at the Eighth International Montessori Congress, held in San Remo in 1949, told a story from India: a shepherdess had wanted to enrich her garden with two new plants, one for herself and one for God. The latter was her joy: “She watered it thoughtfully, sheltered it from the sun and prevented insects from approaching it. She neglected the first plant and entrusted it to the care of others. Contrary to all her predictions, the plant dedicated to God died, while the other grew luxuriantly. Desperate, the shepherdess wondered why. […] She was told: ‘You gave this plant too much water; you wanted to protect it from the sun and insects, but the plant needed the sun for its chlorophyll and insects to grow and reproduce. You yourself with your care have destroyed it.’ The same thing happens in the field of childhood education. Often the intervention of educators and family members, even if motivated by the utmost good will, becomes an obstacle to the free development of creative forces and oppresses and suffocates the child’s inner energies, preventing the action of those natural factors necessary for life.”[4]

Montessori also referred to the parable of the talents (cf. Matt 25:24-28), to the behavior of the servant who buries the talent he has received. She expands on  its meaning: “One cannot limit action in the field of education to the pure preservation of what exists; one would be acting badly in the same way as the servant who did not take care to make the talent bear fruit. We know that in the spirit of the child there are rich, unknown energies. We must put them to good use; […] we must prepare for a better future by using the child’s marvelous potential.”[5]

This is the genius of the Montessori pedagogical method: we must not stifle the growth of the child and, at the same time, we must enhance the vital energies present in the child since birth.

The success of the Montessori method had led to some conclusions. After the First World War, a movement had formed with a strong tendency to create unity among people. There were differences of opinion about how to achieve this, but one factor was common to all: “education.”[6] While “ to educate” can have different meanings, it is striking that “all the supporters of the various forms of education agree that we must educate from birth.”[7]

This highlights the importance of a renewed educational system. It is necessary to educate “from that period of life in which a person is still nothing, at the point in which spiritually the individual is still a zero. […] At this point of human existence everything is the same, that is, nothing exists, but at that point there are infinite latent possibilities both to separate and to reunite people. The idea cannot but seem good. If we begin to educate at that point where everything is formless, it will be possible to find the way to create harmony among people. This is the greatest purpose that can be proposed by an educational system. And it is of immense relief to all to hope that the fortunes of the world may be changed through the child.”[8]

The rebel of the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’

The events that led Montessori to discover her educational method have complex roots in her personal history. Maria firmly intended to enroll in the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at the “Sapienza” University, but until the end of the 19th century no woman had ever been admitted  to  this faculty. Moreover, she had a technical-scientific diploma, not the traditional qualification necessary for admission. She did not give up and went with her father to the Minister of Education, Guido Baccelli, a distinguished politician and scientist. Given the prohibition, the minister advised her to enroll in natural sciences, so that, after the second year, she could switch to medicine.[9] However, Maria’s life was not easy: she had to be accompanied by her parents to the university; her male colleagues blocked her access to the laboratories, and she had to practice vivisection at night. Because of her stubborn determination she graduated in 1896, completing a thesis in psychiatry. It was a surprising event, so much so that even the newspapers gave news of the first female medical graduate of the Sapienza.[10]

In the same year, Maria was part of the Italian delegation to the World Congress on Women’s Rights in Berlin, where she presented a motion for equal pay with men. She also founded a “Women’s Association” for the emancipation of women. She had just graduated, but she was already an advocate of women’s rights, a protester and feminist ante litteram.

At first she was an intern at the Medical Clinic of the University of Rome, although her interests were oriented toward neuropsychiatry. She devoted herself passionately to the care of children suffering from mental disorders and discovered that many had not developed to their potential. This was the origin of her vocation, which led not only to the partial, but even total recovery of some of the handicapped children. For 50 years, Maria dedicated herself to studying the abilities of children. She developed a program of education that led her to apply the method she had discovered in medicine to general pedagogy. A significant detail: Montessori set great importance by simple tools, objects of different shapes and colors (cubes, squares, joints, tablets with numbers and letters, boxes, bells, and similar aids) that were capable of attracting the attention of children and stimulating their learning.

In 1899 she became a member of the steering committee of the National League for the protection of children who had been defined as “abnormal” and, together with her colleague Giuseppe Montesano, she became a director of the Orthophrenic School. Orthophrenics is the branch of psychiatry that studies the characteristics of delays in the mental development of the mentally handicapped and the methods for treating them. In national and European conferences she had the opportunity to publicize the results of her experiences and thus began her international career.

In the meantime, she was affectionately linked to Montesano, by whom she had a son in March 1898. She gave birth secretly, to avoid scandal and to avoid compromising their careers;  they agreed as well  to keep their relationship hidden. Their son, Mario, was placed in the care of  a wet nurse, far from Rome. Unfortunately the relationship between the two broke up, because Montesano married another woman. After that Maria always dressed in black, as a sign of mourning. Until the age of 14, the boy remained with his wet nurse, and Montessori visited him regularly, but in 1913, when her mother died, Maria took him in. Mario was a great advocate and propagator of the Montessori method.

The experience in the San Lorenzo district in Rome

In 1906 Montessori was commissioned to organize a nursery school for the children of workers in the working-class neighborhood of San Lorenzo, where 58 new residential buildings were being constructed for manual  workers. Their children, aged between three and six, needed to be cared for,  and she was called upon to do so. Now she no longer had to devote herself only to handicapped children, but to the children of the poor, rough neighborhood. They were largely the children of illiterate parents, unable to express themselves. Thus the first “Casa dei Bambini” [Children’s Home] was born.[11] Since there was no funding from the municipality, she herself had chairs and tables made to measure for children. Through this experience, her pedagogical ideas took on a clearer form, after the singular success she had  had with the disabled. The children felt at ease, were enthusiastic about the new arrangements, performed much better than  other children, and above all learned to live together. Among the distinguished visitors was Don Luigi Sturzo.[12]

For Montessori, this was a turning point, so much so that she founded a second “Casa dei Bambini” in that neighborhood. The experience was extended, in 1908, to Milan, where she founded two, and then a fifth in Rome. The Houses were soon known in Switzerland, and became successful in the United States when she went there in 1913.

Meanwhile, at one of the conferences she had the opportunity to meet other scholars of pedagogy and, in particular, Alice Hallgarten, wife of Baron Leopoldo Franchetti, who had founded a school in Umbria. After visiting the Casa dei Bambini in the San Lorenzo district, the Franchettis were so enthusiastic about it that they convinced Maria to move in with them and write about her experience. They also financed the printing of her book describing her method, which came out in 1909: Il metodo della pedagogia scientifica applicato all’educazione infantile nelle Case dei Bambini.[13] The following year, her method was also adopted in the elementary school founded by the Franchetti family, thus the focus moved from preschools to elementary schools.

The Montessori method

The Montessori method was a new project that built on earlier work, to which Montessori owed much, but which she improved on with her own genius. She was inspired by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and two pedagogues,  Johann Pestalozzi and Friedrich Froebel. For Montessori, “Pestalozzi had given children freedom without the material, and Froebel the material without the freedom. She had given both of these components, indispensable in her judgment for the education of the little ones.”[14] The method begins with the sensory education of infants up to the age of three, and develops from ages three to six with the use of the material already tested in the Children’s Homes.[15]

The basic principle of education is to help for life, and the educator must develop the potential of the child: life itself will carry out its task as “builder of the person,” to cite  the definition given by Montessori.[16] To this end, the freedom of the children must be fostered: nothing must be imposed on them; they themselves must choose how to play, what to do. The educator helps them by preparing the didactic material and by accompanying them in their growth. Instead of the traditional discipline of keeping a  child immobile at school, Montessori offers the “discipline of freedom” (“No to desks!”),  “discipline” in the sense that  individuals “are their own masters and therefore can dispose of themselves following a rule of life.”[17] This implies respect for others, maintaining order, moving around without bothering one’s neighbors. Also original is education in silence, which helps concentration and attention. Prizes and punishments are completely abolished. Nothing is neglected with regard to food, hygiene, clothing, school furniture, boxes for materials and colored chalk, small tasks, pictures on the walls.[18]

Another of Montessori’s discoveries is that “the person is built by working.”[19] Work is fundamental to the child; manual dexterity promotes the development of intelligence.

Criticism and praise

In time, the first criticisms of the method emerged, both from the secular and the Catholic viewpoints. One pedagogue, Guido Della Valle, derisively dismissed “the method of scientific pedagogy” and described   it as “an ultra-Franciscan preaching of love.”[20] On the other side, La Civiltà Cattolica intervened, on the one hand trying to save Montessori’s intuitions and educational practice, and on the other, lamenting the presence of “erroneous philosophical theories.” The journal praised “the necessity of religious education” required by the method, but criticized its principles, which could not be traced back to the “immutable principles of classical pedagogy.” It noted, however, that the method would produce “a kind of revolution in pedagogy and methods of teaching for children to the great advantage of the youngest children.”[21] But doubts were also expressed about the claim to want to form “heroes and heroines of the future.”[22]

In any case, with regard to an article by the Jesuit Ramón Ruiz Amado in La Educación Hispano-Americana of Barcelona, the journal reiterated: “In particular, the learned Fr. Ruiz Amado qualifies the Montessori method as a kind of ‘psychological modernism,’ which he calls vitalism, insofar as it is intended to ‘promote the path of the pupils, letting them discover what their education should be.’”[23]

Praise for Montessori came from some exponents of the Christian Democratic movement, who saw in her work a profound ethical value  and a lively social sensitivity. In addition to Don Luigi Sturzo, Filippo Meda, in the journal of the Catholic University of Milan, defended the Montessori method from the reservations that emerged in the Catholic sphere.[24] Even the philosopher Giovanni Gentile, who had become Minister of Education, was a supporter of this innovative method.[25]

Her sojourn in Spain

In 1915 Maria moved to Barcelona, where she remained during the Great War. One of her students had opened the Escola Modelo Montessori, a children’s home that was a great success. The method was developed with the addition of  Catholic religious elements: a “Children’s Chapel” was built in the school, to suit the  children, for their active participation in the Mass. The liturgy, with its signs and symbols, was recognized by Montessori as the pedagogical method of the Church and the center of religious education. A series of essays date from this period, including I bambini viventi nella Chiesa (The Living Children in the Church).[26]

Montessori’s intuition of the capacities of children led her to discover the mysterious link between God and children: they “show faith in God as the author and preserver of life. […] They are so capable of distinguishing natural and supernatural things, that their intuition makes us think of a more religious period of life: the first age seems to be joined with God as the development of the body is strictly dependent on the natural laws that are transforming it.”[27]

Already around the age of six, the child begins to explore the world and an interest in behavior and judgment about it is born. It is not easy to guide a child, because a child wants to understand for him- or herself and is not content to passively absorb others’ judgments; however, “the child’s freedom must have as its limit the collective interest:  what we call education of manners and acts. We must therefore prevent the child from doing anything that may offend or harm others, or any acts that are unseemly or rude.”[28]

Her return to Italy and the rise of  Fascism

On her return to Italy in 1924, Maria was received by Benedict XV, who blessed her and praised her method.[29] She was also praised by the Fascists. Mussolini, in his speech on her return, described Marconi’s telegraph and the Montessori method as “two instances of genius united in the august name of the Fatherland.”[30] With the approval of the regime, the Opera Nazionale Montessori, of which the Duce was honorary president, and the magazine L’idea Montessori were born. The Opera had the support of personalities such as Guglielmo Marconi, Sigmund Freud, Jean Piaget and Rabindranath Tagore.[31] In 1926, Montessori organized a national training course to prepare teachers to apply the method. Mussolini declared Montessori’s success a source of pride for Italy. However, the new schools, because they could not be controlled, were a source of both glory and annoyance to the Duce. In addition, Giuseppe Lombardo Radice, who at first was in favor of Montessori and later criticized her, recommended instead the pedagogical ideas of the Agazzi sisters, which he felt were better rooted in Italian tradition.[32]

A few years later, the break with Fascism occurred. First, Hitler closed the Montessori schools in Germany, and then in 1933, disagreements with the regime forced Maria to leave the Opera Nazionale and move permanently to the Netherlands. Meanwhile, her international travels continued.

At the outbreak of World War II, Montessori was in India, where her pedagogy, adapted to the Indian context, met with considerable success. She remained there for seven years. Unfortunately, she was also subjected to a sort of forced residence, because she was an enemy alien. In spite of everything, she managed to train about 1,500 Indian teachers.

In 1946 she returned to Europe, where she was welcomed with great honors and reconstituted the Opera Nazionale. Three years later she participated in the 8th International Montessori Congress, the theme of which was “Human Formation in World Reconstruction.[33] In 1952, while still at the height of her activity, she died in her home in the Netherlands. She was buried in Noordwijk aan Zee, near The Hague, in the Catholic cemetery. On the tombstone is written: “I pray to the dear children, who can do everything, to join me in building peace among men and women and in the world.”

The science of ‘cultivating people’

For Montessori, the science of education should be called “the science of cultivating people,” that is, the ability to develop  the potential that the child has within from birth.[34] Innate energies, often unknown and unsuspected, must be put to good use; they must be supported in order to prepare a better future through what the child will be able to contribute.

Studies of  children show the value of the years of infancy: from the psychological point of view – according to Montessori – the first two years of existence are fundamental, because it is the time in which the child passes from the unawareness  of the first moments of life to the formation of his or her mental and physical faculties.[35] The person of the future is born, the foundations of their evolution are laid, because a set of novelties with their own dynamics is developed. If these bases are diverted or distorted, they can lead to irreversible damage. This is the age when both positive qualities and defects arise, characteristics that will later define the adult and mark someone’s personality, sometimes forever.

It is usually believed that the newborn child is merely weak, lacking intelligence, strength, willpower, and in need of help. The Montessori method, on the other hand, maintains the opposite: “We believe that humankind must turn to the child for help to find its bearings, to find the right path. Only the child can help humanity to solve a great number of social and individual problems. The child is by no means weak and poor: the child is the father and mother of humanity and civilization, he or she is our teacher, even with regard to his or her education. This is not an exaggerated exaltation of childhood, it is a great truth.”[36]

The child’s potential

Montessori evidenced this truth with two examples: first, how the child begins to move; second, how he or she learns to speak; both achievements occur through the child’s own personal drive. “The child moves little by little, as if slowly awakening to life. The hands awaken to work, the feet awaken to walk. […] Even more extraordinary is the learning of language. All children speak at two years of age and if this did not happen, mothers, even the most foolish, would be very worried about it, because it is natural. But how is it possible for a child to speak at two years old? Psychologists study with great attention this complex phenomenon. The child speaks the so-called maternal language and at the age of two is able to construct not only sounds, but also the grammatical order, without which thought cannot be expressed: it is a spontaneous activity that presupposes an intellectual reality  and that reveals to us that, in this first period of life, the child has a very active psychic life.”[37]

Montessori notes that language is the result of millennia of work by which humans have learned to understand each other. For an adult to learn a language other than his or her own involves  a considerable effort. And yet a two-year-old child is able to learn, or better, to absorb, that is, to learn a language in an immediate and indelible way. By starting to speak, the child shapes the adult within, who can thus communicate and relate to others.” By “absorbing mind” Montessori means “the mind of the child that does not absorb like a sponge that lets water pass and does not retain it; it absorbs it definitively, and in so doing creates the character of the adult.”[38]

In the past it was argued that learning, for a long time unnoticed, should be attributed largely to what is inherited; it was not understood how the child, by an autonomous process, could create its own personality, hence Montessori’s profound wonder: “Manifested in this phenomenon of creation and evolution is the power of God, who wanted to give an appearance of weakness to the newborn child, while endowing the child with superhuman, omnipotent energies. Under this aspect the child is the instrument of God for the evolution of humanity and assumes, in the eyes of the educator, an aspect of majesty, goodness and divine wisdom.”[39]

After the general overview of Montessori pedagogy, it is now appropriate to consider two characteristics: cosmic education and the unity of the world through the child.

Cosmic education

One of the strongest elements of innovation in the Montessori method is cosmic education. It is to be understood as “an effective preparation of the new generations to understand that the whole of humanity tends to unite into a single organism. This concept must not be seen as an ideal made to guide the actions of men and women, but as a reality already existing, although still in the process of being realized. In other words, it is not a question of pushing for cooperation among people in order to induce them to unite among themselves, but of raising their consciousness toward a fact that exists and that requires their conscious adaptation to the real state of affairs  in which they live.”[40]

Children must therefore be helped to understand the great discoveries of civilization, the adventures of the first voyages around the world, the history of men and women down the centuries, so as to enliven the arid notions in books. “In the life and work of these superior persons there is no shadow of selfishness; they give without receiving anything in return. But they build great things destined to live beyond them and to develop and enlarge. How beautiful this solidarity is between human beings that is projected into the future and sinks into remote time, so as to bind the past to the present and the present to the future, for eternity.”[41] Cosmic education is  the movement from personal experience to universal experience. The work of the child thus becomes a service to others, to the world, a small task that is part of the larger story of the cosmos. Here, too, it is necessary to look upon the child as “a teacher” who carries within him- or herself a new hope and light.[42]

The unity of the world through the child

This is another original principle of the Montessori method. At birth, a child is greeted by  the only thing he or she needs, love. If a child grows up and is found to have mental defects, it is because he or she lacked the affection, family protection and care necessary for development in early childhood. Unfortunately, the principle of love is not at the base of our societies. Religions affirm it, but in practice modern society is dominated by greed for money, competition and selfishness. What can transform the human heart? Montessori answers: “There is no other way to unite people all over the world than this: love of  and interest in children.”[43]

The birth of a child can work a miracle in the family. Even a selfish person, faced with a new life, can be radically transformed in loving it. The child “possesses nothing, and yet promises everything: in the homes of the rich and in those of the poor, […] in all nations, it knows nothing of political parties or other social distinctions or divergences. Wherever a child is born, it comes with the same characteristics.”[44] This certainty grounds “the hope that education can be the most effective means of bringing about the union of the whole human family.”[45]

[1].             Francis, Message on the occasion of the International Congress for the 150th anniversary of the birth of Maria Montessori, October 23, 2021. The Congress had been postponed one year due to the pandemic.

[2].             Cf. C. Maurizio, “Montessori nel mondo: quante sone e dove sono le scuole”, in Tecnica della scuola (www.tecnicadellascuola.it/montessori-nel-mondo-quante-sono-e-dove-sono-le-scuole,) September 1, 2020.

[3].             F. De Giorgi, “Rileggere Maria Montessori. Modernismo cattolico e rinnovamento educativo”, in M. Montessori, Dio e il bambino e altri scritti inediti, Brescia, Morcelliana-Scholé, 2020, 5.

[4].             M. Montessori, “La solidarietà umana nel tempo e nello spazio”, in La formazione dell’uomo nella ricostruzione mondiale. Atti dell’VIII Congresso Internazionale Montessori presieduto da Maria Montessori (San Remo, 22-29 agosto 1949), Rome, Ente Opera Montessori, 1950, 195.

[5].             Ibid., 196.

[6].             Id., “La capacità creatrice della prima infanzia”, in La formazione dell’uomo…, op. cit., 29.

[7].             Ibid.

[8].             Ibid., 30.

[9].             Cf. L. Borghi, Il medico di Roma. Vita morte e miracoli di Guido Baccelli (1830-1916), Rome, Armando, 2015, 238.

[10].           The first female medical graduates were called “medichesse.” After 1870 two other women graduated in medicine: Ernestina Paper in Florence in 1877, and Anna Kuliscioff in Naples in 1887 (see ibid., 238).

[11].           See the description in M. Montessori, Il segreto dell’infanzia, Milan, Garzanti, 1950, 150-162.

[12].           Don Sturzo, leader of the Popular Party and mayor of Caltagirone, met Montessori, appreciated her method and left an interesting testimony. In particular, he declared that her teaching was not based on anti-Christian bias. See F. De Giorgi, “Rileggere Maria Montessori…”, op. cit., 20f.

[13].           M. Montessori, Il metodo della pedagogia scientifica applicato all’educazione infantile nelle Case dei Bambini, Città di Castello (Pg), S. Lapi, 1909. The work was dedicated to the Franchetti family. In 1912, the English version of The Method was published in the United States, where it was a resounding success: several teachers came to Italy to visit the Children’s Homes and learn about its methods . The Method was translated into 36 languages and appeared in 58 countries (cf. F. De Giorgi, “Rileggere Maria Montessori…”, op. cit., 43).

[14].           P. Giovetti, Maria Montessori. Una biografia, Rome, Edizioni Mediterranee, 2009, 54.

[15].           About the material, she wrote: “I carried out my experiments on the handicapped in Rome and educated them for two years. I followed the book of Edouard Séguin, and I also treasured the admirable experiences of Itard. I prepared  very rich didactic material on the basis of these texts” (M. Montessori, Il metodo della pedagogia scientifica…, op. cit., 31.)

[16].           M. Montessori, La mente del bambino, Milan, Garzanti, 2017, 14.

[17].           Id., Il metodo della pedagogia scientifica…, op. cit., 63. Cf. “Lo spauracchio della disciplina”, in Id., Educazione per un mondo nuovo, Milan, Corriere della Sera, 2018, 124-135.

[18].           On the walls of each room of the Children’s Houses hung a reproduction of Raphael’s Madonna of the Chair, which  almost serves as  the symbol of the Houses.

[19].           M. Montessori, The Secret of Childhood, op. cit., 262.

[20].           G. Della Valle, “Le ‘Case dei Bambini’ e la ‘Pedagogia scientifica’ di M. Montessori”, in Pedagogica 4 (1911/2) 71; 73.

[21].           “Una nuova riforma edilizia e pedagogica”, in Civ. Catt. 1910 I 86f.

[22].           “Il metodo Montessori”, in Civ. Catt. 1911 I 201. Cf. the review of the volume in English, ibid., 1922 I 357f.

[23].           “La ‘Casa dei Bambini’ della Montessori e l’‘autoeducazione’”, in Civ. Catt. 1919 II 219f. Cf. M. Barbera, L’educazione nuova e il Metodo Montessori, Milan, Àncora, 1946, 135-141.

[24].           Cf. F. Meda, “Il Metodo Montessori”, in Vita e Pensiero 13 (1922) 666-678. In particular, the author writes: “The Church appears almost to be the goal of the education which the method proposes to give” (ibid., 674).

[25].           Cf. P. Giovetti, Maria Montessori…, op. cit., 76.

[26].           Cf. S. Cavalletti, “Prefazione” to M. Montessori, I bambini viventi nella Chiesa. La Vita in Cristo. La Santa Messa spiegata ai bambini, Milan, Garzanti, 1970, 5f. Three books were published together in this volume: the first is from 1922; the second from 1931; the third, which appeared first in English in 1932, then in Italian, is from 1949. From the Montessori method came the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd: cf. S. Cavalletti, Il potenziale religioso del bambino. Descrizione di un’esperienza con i bambini da 3 a 6 anni, Rome, Città Nuova, 1979; Id., Il potenziale religioso tra i 6 e i 12 anni, ibid., 1996; G. Pani, “Catechesis of the Good Shepherd”, in Civ. Catt. English Ed., September 2020, laciviltacattolica.com/catechesis-of-the-good-shepherd/

[27].           M. Montessori, La scoperta del bambino, Milan, Garzanti, 1950, 324f.

[28].           Id., Il metodo della pedagogia scientifica…, op. cit., 64.

[29].           Cf. M. Barbera, L’educazione nuova e il Metodo Montessori, op. cit., 133f.

[30].           B. Vespa, Donne d’Italia. Da Cleopatra a Maria Elena Boschi storia del potere femminile, Milan, Mondadori, 2015. See in particular G. Marazzi, “Montessori e Mussolini: la collaborazione e la rottura”, in Dimensioni e problemi della ricerca storica 13 (2000/1) 177-195.

[31].           Cf. P. Giovetti, Maria Montessori…, op. cit., 78.

[32].           Rosa and Carolina Agazzi were pedagogues who were inspired by Froebel and the structure of the Kindergarten: see ibid., 76.

[33].           Cf. Atti dell”VIII Congresso Internazionale Montessori presieduto da Maria Montessori… , op. cit.

[34].           Cf. M. Montessori, Come educare il potenziale umano, Milan, Garzanti, 2019.

[35].           Cf. Id., Educazione per un mondo nuovo, op. cit., 12.

[36].           Id., “La mente assorbente”, in La formazione dell’uomo…, op. cit., 340.

[37].           Ibid., 341f.

[38].           Ibid., 343.

[39].           Ibid., 347.

[40].           G. Honneger Fresco, “Educazione cosmica: un inedito di Maria Montessori”, in Il Quaderno Montessori, No. 29, 1951, 61f.

[41].           M. Montessori, “La solidarietà nel tempo e nello spazio”, op. cit., 201; Id., Come educare il potenziale umano, Milan, Garzanti, 2019, 32f.

[42].           Cf. G. Galeazzi (ed), Educazione e pace di Maria Montessori e la pedagogia della pace nel ’900, Turin, Paravia, 1992: “We must turn to the child as a Messiah, as a savior, as a regenerator of society. We must be dominated  and humble ourselves until we embrace such a conception: and then go toward the child like the Magi” (ibid., 56).

[43].           M. Montessori, “L’unità del mondo attraverso il bambino”, in La formazione dell’uomo…, op. cit., 532.

[44].           Ibid. 529.

[45].           Ibid., 535 f. Cf. Id., Educazione per un mondo nuovo, op. cit., 15: “The new person will no longer be the victim of events, but will have the clarity of vision necessary to direct and shape the future of human society.”