Unwritten Power: Reimagining Female Leadership in Italian Literature through Feminist and Transformational Frameworks

Barbara Gabriella Renzi 
Berlin School of Business and Innovation (BSBI), Germany.

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Abstract

This paper examines how Italian literature reimagines female leadership by focusing on characters whose authority does not stem from social status or rhetorical skill, but from their ability to endure trauma, offer emotional support, preserve cultural memory, and develop an intellectual identity. The analysis employs a feminist theoretical framework that combines Carol Gilligan’s ethics of care, Judith Herman’s trauma theory, and Hélène Cixous’s concept of écriture féminine, along with models of transformational and servant leadership (Bass & Riggio; Greenleaf). The study highlights five key female figures: Gertrude (the Nun of Monza) and Lucia Mondella from The Betrothed, Ida Ramundo from *History: A Novel*, Marianna Ucrìa from *The Long Life of Marianna Ucrìa*, and the maternal voice in Natalia Ginzburg’s *Family Lexicon*. Each protagonist opposes patriarchal norms not through direct rebellion but via alternative forms of resistance: moral resilience, cultural transmission, inner intellectual life, and maternal leadership. By linking literary character analysis with leadership theories and trauma-informed critique, this paper advocates for redefining leadership as a relational, ethical, and contextually grounded practice—shaped as much by silence, care, and memory as by vision or speech.. 

Keywords: Italian literature, female leadership, feminist literary analysis, transformational leadership, servant leadership, caretaker leadership, gender and power, historical trauma, resilience, moral authority, cultural heritage, emotional strength, ethical clarity, women’s agency