In Italy, mimosa became a flower of International Women’s Day because it was abundant, seasonal and inexpensive—and because women’s organizers gave it meaning through their postwar activism. The custom is particularly Italian, not a universal March 8 tradition.
Why mimosa is given on March 8 in Italy
The choice joined practical circumstances with a political moment. In 1946, as the Unione Donne Italiane (UDI) organized after fascism, activists chose a flower that many people could find and afford. Over time, mimosa came to represent emancipation, solidarity and collective struggle—not simply its bright yellow color or its arrival in spring.
Italy’s official tourism account credits Teresa Noce, Rita Montagnana and Teresa Mattei with proposing mimosa in 1946. A later account by UDI organizer Marisa Rodano, reported by ANSA, recalls a meeting at Palazzo Giustiniani where the group considered alternatives. Rodano said mimosa grew abundantly around Rome and could be gathered for free; ANPI also recounts that practical explanation. These accounts place the decision in the UDI’s organizing context while preserving the difference between the activists named in the official account and Rodano’s retrospective recollection. ANSA’s 2025 account and ANPI’s historical article describe Rodano’s recollection.
According to ANSA’s report of Rodano’s recollection, violets were considered difficult to find and expensive, while carnations were already associated with May Day. Mimosa’s availability made it suitable for distributing bunches widely. Rodano recalled that branches went out with leaflets and the UDI newspaper Noi Donne; she also remembered police confiscating bunches and stopping women. That episode shows the flower circulating as part of public political activity as well as a personal gift.
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Rodano summarized the relationship between activism and symbolism this way: “non è un fiore che determina le lotte ma sono le lotte che determinano il significato del fiore”. In English, her point is that struggles give the flower its meaning. ANSA presents this as Rodano’s recollection, not as a statement recorded in contemporaneous 1946 minutes.
Is mimosa the International Women’s Day flower everywhere?
No. The mimosa custom is especially associated with Italy. Italy’s official tourism site describes giving mimosa on March 8 as an Italian tradition; accounts of its origins connect it to the UDI’s postwar organizing. Do not assume the flower is a universal symbol or that it will be in season or readily available where you live. ANSA’s 2018 account also describes the custom’s Italian scope.
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The flower has a related cultural presence in Italy through torta mimosa, a cake associated with the occasion. Italy’s tourism overview notes the connection but does not establish a detailed culinary origin story.
March 8’s history is separate from mimosa’s history
The date of International Women’s Day and the Italian choice of flower are related through the celebration, but they are distinct histories. Italy’s official tourism overview links March 8 to Russian women’s 1917 protest in St. Petersburg against the war. It says there is no historical evidence for the popular story that a New York factory fire on March 8, 1908, killed women workers.
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That story should not be confused with the documented Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in New York on March 25, 1911. The tourism overview reports that more than one hundred women and about twenty men died in that fire. The same account says Italy’s first Women’s Day observance was in 1922, followed by UDI celebrations in areas liberated from fascism in 1945. The nationwide postwar return of the observance and mimosa’s association belong to the 1946 account. Italy’s official tourism overview provides this date context.
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For a children’s-book treatment of the story, ANSA identifies Serena Gibbini Ballista’s Mimosa in fuga as including an interview with Rodano. Its mention here is a reading lead, not a claim about current availability.
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