ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the Montessori's life and work; at her early start as a medical doctor; her first nursery, which she called Casa dei Bambini; and her training of adults as Montessori teachers. All these elements of her career contributed to the rise of the Montessori International movement, which continues to thrive in the twenty-first century. Maria Montessori's own life is closely linked with the political, social and economic changes that resulted from the unification of Italy in the year Montessori was born, 1870. Montessori preferred to follow the technical rather than the classical stream of education, reflected in her interest and love of mathematics and the opportunity taken to follow the modern curriculum. Montessori continued to be preoccupied with the fate of these children in the asylum and her encounter with the work of Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard and his pupil Edouard Seguin gave some answers.
