Born into a cultured and wealthy family, she grew up with a conservative father and a progressive mother. After moving to Rome, Maria decided to attend a technical institute, against her father's advice. Despite the bureaucratic obstacles and those posed by her classmates, she later enrolled in medical school, graduating in 1896. In that same year, she attended the International Women's Congress in Berlin. She used the opportunity to speak out against the wage differences between men and women factory workers. In 1898, she gave birth to her son Mario, the result of a relationship with her colleague Giuseppe Montesano. To avoid a scandal, she had him raised by a wet nurse in the countryside; later, Maria will be abandoned by her partner for reasons of career and self-interest. In 1899, she founded and directed a training school for educators working with “deficient” children, developing a teaching method based on the work of Itard, Seguin, Pestalozzi, and Froebel.

In 1907, Maria inaugurated the first Children's House in Rome, in the San Lorenzo district, for children from working-class families. Taking care of 50 children between the ages of 2 and 6, she successfully applied her experience with disabled children to non-disabled ones, surprising everyone. The Montessori Method was born. The book The Montessori Method was published in 1909 and later translated into many languages. During her trips to the USA (1913, 1914) and throughout Europe, she was met with enthusiasm, and her ideas and methods quickly spread. Children's Houses opened everywhere, and Maria Montessori embarked on a long period of teaching journeys in England, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, and Buenos Aires. The National Montessori Organization was established in 1924, followed by the International Montessori Association in 1929. Mussolini introduced the Montessori method into Italian schools in 1924. It remained the scholastic method in use until 1934, when political differences led to a break in their partnership, even though Maria was generally uninterested in politics. Hitler and Mussolini ordered the closure of Montessori schools. It was 1934 when Maria left Italy, at first heading to Spain, then to England. She traveled to India in 1939, following an invitation to share her ideas and stayed there with her son Mario, who by then had been assisting her for years. They will only return to Europe in 1946. She continued to lecture and receive awards until her death in the Netherlands in 1952.

Maria Montessori's strong personality is at once the origin of the success of her method and the limit for its application: not many teachers have the same passion and dedication as the founder. Her ideas on child education, which balanced freedom with rules and discipline, have been often misunderstood by her critics. Many consider her ideas about peace and inner calm as a fundamental key to understand her entire work.

The Montessori method covers child education from birth to adult life. A teacher's role is to “simply” act as a mediator, supporting the child's innate desire to learn by observing, providing the right materials and knowing when to stay silent and let the child make discoveries.

According to Maria Montessori, human development progresses through four specific stages (that she calls “piani”, or “planes of development”).

The first plane (2-6 years) aims to develop the senses and educate practical life and social skills in a suitable environment. The topics include: motor skills, time, household chores, relationship with nature, independence, silence, language, numbers, space, noises and sounds, colors, writing, self-education. During the second plane (7-12 years) there is a transition from the sensory to the abstract plane. While the teacher still acts as a mediator, the child should always feel a sense of reassurance from the adult. Topics include: water studies, chemistry, cosmic education, history, world religions, arts and musical culture, scouting. «Being active with one’s own hands, having a determined practical aim to reach, is what really gives inner discipline. When the hand perfects itself in a work chosen spontaneously and the will to succeed is born together with the will to overcome difficulties or obstacles; it is then that something which differs from intellectual learning arises. The realization of one’s own value is born in the consciousness.»1 «Adolescence [12-18 years] is the time when the child enters on the state of manhood and becomes a member of society.»2 «Association gives new strength by stimulating the energies. To act in association with others either in thought or in practice is the only way in which the human nature can be active.»3

Inspired by her travels to England and Germany, Maria insisted on a reform of secondary schools and promoted education in communities, in agricultural and rural environments. It is essential to balance a teen’s freedom with their need for protection, physical care, a healthy diet, moral guidance, and personal expression.

In the fourth plane, Maria highlights the need to encourage the young adult toward autonomy, cooperation and the achievement of economic independence during their university studies.


Translated by Alessia Tavaroli.
1 The translation of the quote is taken from the English version of Dall'infanzia all'adolescenza, [from which the Italian versions of the quotes were taken]: From Childhood to Adolescence, The Montessori Series Volume 12, Montessori-Pierson Publishing Company, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, p. 87.

2 The translation of the quote is taken from the English version of Dall'infanzia all'adolescenza, [from which the Italian versions of the quotes were taken]: From Childhood to Adolescence, The Montessori Series Volume 12, Montessori-Pierson Publishing Company, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, p. 60.

3 The translation of the quote is taken from the English version of Dall'infanzia all'adolescenza, [from which the Italian versions of the quotes were taken]: From Childhood to Adolescence, The Montessori Series Volume 12, Montessori-Pierson Publishing Company, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, p. 89.