Looking for "la Romanina"

Original Italian: Cercando "la Romanina" (automatic translation)

The other day, for the first time, I learned about trans history in Italy, thanks to the new article by Zagria Trans Italy - the 1960s. One of the things that intrigued me a lot is the story of Romanina, one of the first, if not the first, of the Italian trans women to receive a sex reassignment operation and change her legal name. What's most interesting about her is that she didn't want to keep her transition under wraps, but chose to come out publicly. Suffering major consequences, she was in fact exiled to a small village for years, before getting legal sex reassignment.

In doing so, she set a big precedent, which then contributed to the 1982 Gender Reassignment Act. It amazed me that I had never heard of it!

Wanting to know more, I browsed the internet, finding articles like La Romanina, she changed the Italian costume on Firenzemia. So I discovered that there is an entire autobiography on Romina Cecconi's life, which is entitled I, the "Romanina", why I became a woman. I was hoping to find an ebook online, but was unsuccessful.

Information about the book is available on Amazon, but the book is not for sale. I found it on ebay for the modest sum of 90 euros (I guess it makes sense, being a rare book). I thought about buying it, and keeping it for posterity, but my wallet started crying.

So I started looking in the catalogs of Italian libraries, and I discovered that the book is present in a dozen libraries, including Florence (BINGO!), which is relatively accessible from where I live.

I discovered that the BCNF has quite complicated regulations regarding loans, so I have to hope they accept my request. I was planning to go to Florence this month, so I hope I get lucky.

My plan is to scan the book to preserve it for posterity: it is a very important document for Italian trans history, and I hope not to be disappointed by its contents.

Wish me luck!

04/16/2023