Perhaps surprisingly, when the Fascists first came into power in Italy in 1922, they initially embraced her movement.
Montessori opened her first "Casa dei Bambini" – "Children's House" – in 1907, and it soon spawned many others. Over time, she also forged connections with visionaries around the world, including Gandhi. Perhaps surprisingly, when the Fascists first came into power in Italy in 1922, they initially embraced her movement. But they soon came to oppose the emphasis on the children's freedom of expression. According to Taviani, Montessori's values had always been about human respect, and "the rights of children and women. But the Fascists wanted to exploit her work and her fame."