Olivia Rossetti Agresti - Internationalism

Internationalism

The second phase in Agresti's career began in 1904, when she met the American agricultural reformer David Lubin. A former department store and mail order magnate from Sacramento, Lubin was in Rome seeking a state sponsor for his idea of an international clearinghouse for agricultural statistics. Unable to speak Italian, Lubin hired Agresti as his interpreter and thus began a close collaboration between the two which continued until Lubin's death.

With Agresti's assistance, Lubin's efforts in Italy made history. After gaining the unexpected support of Italy's king Victor Emmanuel III, Lubin's vision became a reality with the 1905 founding of the International Institute of Agriculture, headquartered in Rome. The first modern international organization, it was hailed as a significant forerunner of world government by such luminaries as H. G. Wells and Louis Brandeis. Agresti includes samples of Lubin's correspondence with Wells and Brandeis in her 1922 biography David Lubin: A Study in Practical Idealism.

Following Lubin's death in 1919, Agresti waged a public campaign for close cooperation between the International Institute of Agriculture and the nascent League of Nations, which soon employed her as a member of the staff to Italy's delegation. She continued as a staff interpreter for the League in Geneva from 1922 to 1930. Her last assignment as a professional interpreter occurred in 1945 when, at the personal request of Italy's prime minister, Alcide De Gasperi, she accompanied him to London for meetings of the Council of Foreign Ministers. According to her unpublished memoirs, meetings at which Agresti interpreted included Ernest Bevin and Vyacheslav Molotov.