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Biography Maria Montessori

BACKGROUND
Maria Montessori was born in the town of Chiaravalle, Italy on August 31, 1870. Though most of the information on Maria's childhood seems to be uncertain, with disagreeing dates, contradictions and omissions, I found a majority of the information about her childhood in Maria Montessori: A Biography by Rita Kramer (1976). Her father was Alessandro Montessori who was "an old fashioned gentleman of conservative temper and military habits." (Kramer, 1976, p. 22). He was a soldier in his youth and a civil servant later in life. Her mother was a woman named Renilde Stoppani. She was eight years younger than her husband. For the time period, she was very well educated and loved to read books. This was really incredible because in the town she lived in it was a matter of pride to be able to write one's name. This woman was very patriotic, devoted to the ideals of liberation and union for Italy. Alessandro and Renilde were married in the spring of 1866 and it was only a year later that Maria was born.
Maria was considered to be self-confident, optimistic and greatly interested in change. Her parents often had troubles seeing eye to eye on what was best for their "talented headstrong daughter." (Kramer, 1976, chap. 1). As a child Maria had a daily quota of knitting she was to meet. She enjoyed taking her neighbor, a hunchbacked little girl, out for walks. It was also not uncommon for her to interfere in arguments her parents would have. During that time, elementary education was a local affair and the schools were usually dirty and crowded. However, Maria learned very easily and did exceptionally well on exams. In games she was often the leader among the other children and never had trouble holding her own with other adults. As far as her relationship with her parents, she was close to her father, but never hid the fact that it was her mother who encouraged all of her dreams and ambitions.

As far as personal relationships that Maria had, it is mentioned in...