Grasp at the root of the Italian word mondina and you will discover the verb mondare, which (in certain contexts) means to weed. From this, it is easy to understand the work of the mondina, a woman employed to weed Italy’s rice fields during the 40-day period of summer known as the monda. Without her, unwanted plants would compete with cultivated rice plants for water, soil and sun, resulting in a reduction in crop production—in other words, there would be less food. 

A true definition of mondina, however, cannot be summed up in a short-term job description. To be a mondina is a lifelong identity with a legacy that ripples outward across the centuries like the water around their calves while wading through the rice paddies, broadly impacting Italian agriculture, culture, cuisine and politics.