Today is la Festa della Donna (Women's Day) in Italy, commemorating the tragedy of the New York City fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Fatory in March, 1908. In that fire 148 women garment workers were killed. (Some stories say that the owner of the sewing factory locked the striking women workers inside and set fire to the building.)
In Rome it is a tradition to give women a gift of mimosa flowers on this day, a first sign of spring.
