[A window on the past: nurses and education]

The history and the state of the art of the debate on nursing education in the first two decades of 20th century is presented. Improvement of nursing education was a strongly felt need from nurses and physicians: feminist movements were strongly in favour of a limited role of physicians in nursing education. Nurses trade unions (Leghe degli infermieri) supported an improvement of nurses' education as a mean to protect patients rights for a better care. Only a minority of physicians opposed the introduction of the English model of nursing care, with the matron who had the power of organizing the hospital. After the advent of fascism the law of 1929 on institution of Scuole Convitto was approved, and this law hindered the development of a reform of nursing education up to the Seventies.