Abstract

The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, I present the findings of bibliographical research conducted in an attempt to identify first women authors of ELT materials in Italy. It appears that, in the period between 1896 and 1918, twenty-three different women authors produced at least one ELT publication each. Secondly, I focus on two women authors whose contribution to promoting the learning and teaching of English in that period was particularly significant. I argue that Pia Padovani’s (1904, 1906) and Anna Benedetti’s (1915) views on the goals, priorities and language teaching methodologies are of particular relevance and I analyse the prefaces to their textbooks in an attempt to amplify our knowledge of the history of English language teaching in the early 20th-century Italy.