Clelia Lollini (May 1, 1890 – November 24, 1963) was an Italian medical doctor. She helped to found the Medical Women's International Federation and the Italian Women's Medical Association.
Early life Clelia Lollini was born in Rome, the daughter of Vittorio Lollini and Elisa Agnini. Her father was a lawyer and her mother was a journalist and feminist. All four of the Lollini daughters (Olga, Clara, Livia, and Clelia) pursued higher education and professional careers. Clelia Lollini finished her medical degree in 1915.Silvia Mori, "Clelia Lollini" Enciclopedia delle Donne.
Career During World War I she enlisted and worked as a surgeonMabel Potter Daggett, Women Wanted: The Story Written in Blood Red Letters on the Horizon of the Great World War (George H. Doran Company 1918): 74. at a military hospital in Venice."Dottoresse al fronte? Ecco le donne medico nella Grande Guerra" Estense.com (November 15, 2016). In 1919 she attended the YWCA's International Conference of Women Physicians in New York,"The International Conference of Women Physicians" Medical Record (September 27, 1919): 551-552."Italy and Holland to be Represented at Physicians' Conference" War Work Bulletin (August 29, 1919): 4. where she gave a lecture on "Prostitution and Prophylaxis of Venereal Disease in Italy",Clelia Lollini, "Prostitution and Prophylaxis of Venereal Disease in Italy" Proceedings of the International Conference of Women Physicians (Woman's Press 1920): 62-66. and described her efforts to add social hygiene to Italian public school curricula."International Conference of Women Doctors" The Woman Citizen (September 20, 1919): 393. She also opened a prenatal clinic for unmarried women in Rome.Elizabeth O. Toombs, "In the Hands of Women" Good Housekeeping (November 1919): 40.
She became one of the founders of the Medical Women's International Federation. She and Myra Carcupino-Ferrari founded the Italian Women's Medical Association (AIDM) soon after. Her own experience of tuberculosis, including a two-year stay in a sanatorium, led to her focus on the care of tubercular patients. From 1930 to 1938 she was in charge of the Anti-Tubercular Consortium of Massa. She moved to Tripoli in 1938 and continued her work on tuberculosis there.
Personal life and legacy Clelia Lollini spoke Italian, French, German, English, and Arabic. She died in 1963, aged 73 years, in Tripoli, after an eye surgery.
Silvia Mori wrote a novel, Polveri di Luna (2014), based on Lollini's time at the anti-tubercular consortium in Massa."Le "Polveri di Luna" di Silvia Mori per il ritorno di 'Scrittorincarrara'" La Gazzetta di Massa e Carrara (January 15, 2015).
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