Maria Nicotra

Nicotra was born in Catania in 1913 to Irene Fiorini and Sebastiano Nicotra.^[1] She became a member of the Catania branch of Azione Cattolica and during World War II served as a nurse, winning a gold medal for valour in nursing.^[2] In 1944 she joined the women's commission of the Christian Associations of Italian Workers.^[2]

Following the war, Nicotra was a Christian Democracy candidate in the June 1946 general elections, in which she was one of 21 women elected to the Constituent Assembly. Despite never speaking in the Assembly, she was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1948, serving until the 1953 elections.^[2] She remained involved in the women's section of the Christian Democracy and chaired the Catania autonomous public housing body between 1960 and 1965.^[2] She married Graziano Verzotto [it] in 1949.^[2] After Verzotto moved abroad, she replaced him as president of Siracusa Calcio, the first woman in Italy to become president of a professional football club.^[2] When Verzotto returned to Italy and settled in Padua, Nicotra joined him. She died in the city in 2007.^[2]