“It struck me that Ottawa could be a little bit more boastful when it comes to telling our story,” begins Anna Romano Milne, writer and project lead for Donne Di Ottawa.
The project’s motto, ci siamo anche noi (we are also here), has a double meaning. First, affirming that the city’s Italian community is present and vibrant. Second, that Ottawa’s Italian-Canadian women have always played significant social, cultural and economic roles in the nation’s capital.
“It is a reminder that women’s stories are worthy of recognition,” Romano Milne continues. “It’s a message of inclusion that invites anyone connected to Italy through friendship, family and lived experience to be part of this evolving legacy.”
On October 18, 2025, Romano Milne hosted the unveiling of the new permanent exhibit at Ottawa’s Centro Storico Italo-Canadese. The exhibit honours Italian women who have made lasting contributions to Canada’s capital. Supported by a City of Ottawa heritage grant, Donne Di Ottawa: Ci Siamo Anche Noi! was completed following two years of research and community engagement.
The Centro Storico was abuzz with community spirit and pride as it began to fill. Attendees of all generations gathered around the two beautiful panels showcasing the three inaugural Donne Di Ottawa women: Maria Ierullo, Jenny Prosperine and Rosa Tiezzi. The panels include a portrait of each woman, painted by artist Lucia Alloggia, and short bilingual biographies about their contributions to civic life.
The panels are connected by a drawing—by Romano Milne’s daughter, Sofia—of an iconic Ottawa landmark.
“Anyone who has been in the vicinity of Parliament Hill knows that the peace tower is a graceful invitation to look up, and so this exhibit invites visitors to look up to the women of Ottawa and be inspired by their stories,” Romano Milne explains.
The visual tie to Parliament Hill is also a nod to the women’s political activity. During the Second World War, Tiezzi became a determined advocate for the release of local men interned at Camp Petawawa under the War Measures Act. Ierullo was the first woman of Italian descent to earn a real estate broker’s license. In this role, she worked hard to advocate and fight for families in Ottawa’s Little Italy whose homes were being expropriated in the 1960s. In 1968, Prosperine convinced Italian women with driver’s licenses (including Romano Milne’s mother!) to pick up other women in the community and take them to vote in the federal election.
Stories of Italian women outside the home are necessary to break false generalizations that they were not active in public life in the past. Italian women have always been integral to building community and solidarity; on the frontlines of challenging injustice; and active in creating a more inclusive future for their children. Ci sono—they are there—and their commemorations are long overdue.
The event was rounded out by moving speeches by representatives of the Ottawa’s Italian Women’s Filo and Sandra Aiello, the Head of Consular and Visa Office at the Italian Embassy in Ottawa. Maria Marcantonio, Maddalena Iannitti and Rosanna Esposito of the Coro Arcobaleno di Sant’Antonio concluded the inauguration ceremony inviting attendees to sing along to a familiar song, “L’Italiano” by Toto Cotugno. They modified some lyrics for the occasion. Together, the crowd sang: “Donne di Ottawa / Ci siamo anche noi / Lasciateci cantare / Perché ne siamo fiere!”
Upon entering, each attendee was gifted a small notebook and bookmark, hand-knitted by Romano Milne’s mother, Carmela. A final token reminding them to document their own stories for future generations, guided by the threads that tie the past to the present.
Donne Di Ottawa is ready to collect those testimonies in order to continue building their archives about Italian-Canadian women in Ottawa. You can submit your story and photos here to be featured on a virtual community storyboard.
Learn more about Donne Di Ottawa here.
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