Augusta Lagostena Bassi was born in Milan on June 2, 1926 and died in Rome on March 4, 2008. She graduated in Law at the University of Genoa under the supervision of Professor Giuliano Vassalli.

She was a teaching assistant of Criminal Law at the University of Genoa from 1966 to 1970 and a professor of Navigation Law at the University of Parma from 1971 to 1972.

From 1973 to 1975, she worked at the Cabinet of the Minister at the Ministry of Grace and Justice, Reform Office.
She was a delegate to the World Conference for Peace held in Prague in 1983; she was an observer in a delegation of CISL International sent to the trials against trade unionists in Turkey, in 1983; she founded and was president of CNG (Coordinamento Nazionale Giuriste); she was part of a UN Observatory for the protection of human rights; she was the founder and a member of the Scientific Committee of the Fondazione Cesar Studi Assicurativi e Ricerche (Cesar Foundation for Insurance Studies and Research).

Always attentive to women’s issues, she was the founder of: “Telefono Rosa”, “Differenza Donna”, “Centro contro la violenza” of Rome.

She founded and directed “Né più né meno”, periodical of the National Commission for Equality and Equal Opportunities for Men and Women, published by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers; she founded and was part of the Steering Committee of the journal “Difesa penale”; she also collaborated with the journals “Archivio Giuridico della Circolazione Stradale e dei Sinistri” and “Responsabilità civile e previdenza”.

She was co-editor of the legal series “La responsabilità civile”. She has authored numerous publications, including: “La depenalizzazione”, “La responsabilità, guida giurisprudenziale”, “La R.C. per la circolazione dei veicoli a motore”; “La liquidazione del danno” (volume one, Principi generali, volume two, Danni a persona, volume three, Danni a cose) all published by Giuffrè; “La legge è con noi” (under the headings: assicurazioni, circolazione stradale, arti e professioni, navigazione da diporto, Costituzione) for the editions Selezione Readers Digest; “Diritto e pratica del sinistro stradale”.