[1] Lombardy was the center of the early feminist movement in Italy, as after the Italian unification, women who had previously had the right to vote under Austrian rule of the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, lost their enfranchisement.

[8] She also joined the Associazione per la donna (Association for Women), attending the conference hosted by the organization in Rome in October 1917,[9] where she presented a paper on the state of suffrage in Italy.

[13] Publishing articles in the journal Voce nuova (New Voice), Ancona espoused a liberal suffragism, which rejected nationalism and racism.

When the paper began publishing articles by Teresa Labriola, a feminist in favor of Italian national expansion and racial superiority, Ancona withdrew from further collaboration with the publication.

[14] Ancona was the opening speaker of the Suffrage Conference hosted in Milan between 23 and 29 April 1920, which called together prominent men from all of Italy's political parties to discuss women's enfranchisement.

[23] After conflicts arose between Ancona and Ada Sacchi Simonetti, in 1928, who became president of the Federazione Nazionale pro Suffragio (National Federation in favor of Suffrage) which would become the Federazione Italiana per il Suffragio e i Diritti delle Donne (Italian Federation for Suffrage and Women's Rights), Ancona withdrew from active participation in the struggle for the vote.