Padua, for the first time a woman rector of the University

For the first time, in its 800-year history, the University of Padua chooses a woman as its rector. This is Daniela Mapelli, who will hold the position in the 2021-2027 sexennium. Mother of two, 56 years old, Mapelli was born in Lecco and teaches Neuropsychology. Growing up in the mountains, a long experience as a scout, “I discovered psychology a little by chance,” she told Morning Padua.

«Initially I was undecided between Medicine and History then, in the year of high school, history came out as an exam subject and then the professor put philosophy aside a bit, urging us to organize ourselves in groups to study among ourselves.

And it was at that point that I discovered Freud which fascinated me not so much for her figure, but because the idea of study human behavior from an experimental point of view. And I must say that the idea that there was no Experimental Psychology in Milan was a further push to choose this path, since it allowed me to leave home “, he jokes.

There was another woman in the running for the rectorate: she was Patrizia Marzaro, full professor of administrative law. “Never before, in these moments, the portraits of the men who led the University of Padua, which accompany the entrance into the hall of the Basilica, seem to me to vividly convey their stories, their thoughts, their hopes”, he stated Daniela Mapelli. «Who knows if at the moment of the election they were moved, as I am, or maybe they already felt strong the sense of sweet responsibility, that of leading the University of Padua ».

But the big news is that «from next October, finally we could say “men and women who led the University of Padua “”. The university is the second oldest in Italy, after that of Bologna, and has a record: it is the University where the first woman, the Venetian Elena Lucrezia Corner Piscopia, graduated in 1678.