Maria Rosario Niada was born in Milan, Italy, in 1954. She graduated in Medieval History in 1980 and wrote a book and articles on European history in the Middle Ages. She has always loved teaching and was a secondary school teacher of Italian literature and history for 12 years, until she moved to London with her husband Marco in 1993. In London she became interested in food and culinary history and she wrote three books on Italian cuisine. With her friend Claude Shehadi she has been running Libaliano cooking courses on Lebanese and Italian cuisine for 7 years and they wrote three books together.
A passionate traveller and teacher, in Afghanistan she found an inspiration for a new stream of educational projects.
Sadly, on February 2, 2022 Maria Rosario passed away after a short illness. It was a huge loss for our organisation, as it came at a difficult juncture for women’s condition in Afghanistan. Maria Rosario was the inspiring person of our entire project in Afghanistan and the driving force of our women educational projects both on primary and secondary school and University. In fact, she initiated and followed the trajectory of 28 girls’ University Scholarships in Kabul from 2014 to 2022. To remember her and honour her commitment, Arghosha Committee has established a post graduate Master for Afghan women at the IHEID institute of Geneva, Switzerland, in cooperation with Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, in Italy. The programme will start in September 2024.
