levatrice

Levatrice comes from levare, to lift, and means a woman who assists women in childbirth. Ostetrica is the modern official term, and older word lists give both. Treccani distinguishes fare la levatrice, to work as a midwife, from fare da levatrice, to help at a birth without the qualification.

In old or regional speech madrina could also mean midwife, so a madrina in a birth context may be the midwife and not the godmother. A levatrice may also appear in records as an occupation for a woman.