A passionate letter to Paolini, with some comments in red ink, in which Montessori, writing from India in 1949, urges the involvement of the Italian government, and in particular Minister Sforza, in promoting the Montessori Congress.
After World War II, Maria Montessori regained a central role in Italian cultural life, thanks in part to the support of Foreign Minister Carlo Sforza, who promoted her international prestige as an interpreter of the educational and pacifist values of the new democratic Italy. At the same time, the International Montessori Congresses, inaugurated in 1929 with the founding of the Association Montessori Internationale, became the principal instrument for disseminating the method worldwide. From these meetings, a vision of education as the foundation of peace and cooperation among peoples gradually emerged, a dominant theme in the final years of the educator's career. Maria Montessori's time in India represented a decisive phase in the evolution of her educational thinking. Invited to India for a series of training courses, she was stranded by the outbreak of World War II and lived in the country for a long time with her son Mario Montessori. While interned as "enemy citizens" by the British authorities, he was nevertheless able to continue his teaching activities, especially in the colony of Adyar and later in Kodaikanal. In this context, he developed and deepened the concept of "cosmic education," a vision of learning as the key to understanding the interconnection between nature, culture, and humanity. Dialogue with Indian cultural circles and with figures such as Rabindranath Tagore helped strengthen the spiritual and universal dimension of his method.