IN FACIST UNIFORM.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 72, 24 February 1937, Page 12

IN FACIST UNIFORM.

ITALIAN CHILDREN. Describing her small daughter, Franca, as an “Italian product,” Airs Gianna Gaggini, of Porto Fino-Vetta, on the Italian Riviera, arrived in Sydney recently. Franca is only two and a hlf years of age, but she is already enrolled as a Ballilla, similar to being a Brownie in the Girl Guide movement, her mother said. Very soon after her birth in Italy, papers arrived to be filled in making ; her a member.

- Even the tiny girls and boys, from about the age of three years, appear

in uniform on national clays in Italy, the girls in white jumpers and black skirts, and black capes, white sox and black shoos; and the boys in black shirts and grey short trousers, Mrs Gaggini 6aid. Women in Italy are no longer confining their interest to the domestic sphere. They follow politics keenly, although there is no voting in Italy, Mrs Gaggini added. In contrast to a previous visit to Italy, in 1921, she 6aid that now prosperity was evident everywhere, and the difference was amazing when she returned three and-a half years ago to make her home there.

Most >of Mrs Gaggini’s time is spent on the Italian Riviera, hot far from Genoa, one of the most prosperous cities in Italy, with glorious mountain scenery for a background, and in front the world-famed coast line. There was a constant flow of cosmopolitan tourists. except during the sanctions period.

“Beach clothes worn there would not be tolerated here, 1 am afraid,” Mrs Gaggin said. “The girls wear short trunks and tinv brassieres for bathing, and for the beach, shorts and handkerchief top with or without a halter neckline. Their hair is dressed high in curls, even for the beach, and the same type of coiffure, giving a halo effect, is adopted for the evening.”

When Mrs Gaggin left in the winter season, the 6wallow-tail coat, with the tailored suit, was a feature. The swallow-tails were copied exactly from men’s formal coats, complete to pleats and buttons, and with them were worn Tyrolese hats or pill-box toques, the whole effect being smart and ouaint, but very difficult for those who were not young and slender.