Rosetta Mangiarotti-Pirola

Rosetta "Rosa" Mangiarotti-Pirola (1900 – 22 September 1974) was an Italian fencer. She won the gold medal at the Olympics of Grace in the individual épée event in 1931.

Biography
Mangiarotti-Pirola was born in Renate in 1900. At the age of 17, on 25 July 1918 she married to Olympic fencer Giuseppe Mangiarotti, who competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics. They had three sons who all three became successful fencers. Edoardo (1919–2012) was multiple times Olympic champion, also her son Dario (1915–2010) was Olympic champion and Mario (1920–2019) was a World Fencing Championships medalist.

In 1923 her husband organized a famous fifteen-day tour of Italy, in twelve cities combining sports entertainment, profit and personal advertising. The tour included famous fencers, including Aldo Nadi. Part of the tour was Mangiarotti-Pirola fighting with her husband. In 1931 she wanted to compete at the Olympics of Grace in Florence in 1931, but her grandfather Beppe didn't want her to participate. However Rosetta packed her bags, went to the station and took the train to Florence. There she won the gold medal in the individual épée event ahead of Italian Maria Antonietta Salonna and Lilj Smaine.

She died in Bergamo on 22 September 1974.

References

Category:1900 births
Category:1974 deaths
Category:Italian fencers
Category:Sportspeople from Lombardy