Women’s Festival Hosted by Florence Landmarks

The private Corsini art collection, open during the event

Many women of note —often overlooked — are the focus of the coming weekend program: Eredità delle Donne (The Legacy of Women) on September 21 – 23.  All events are free; reservations required on the web site.

“For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.” – Virginia Woolf

Festival

Woman forgotten. It’s a tale as old as time. Mothers, daughters, friends and sisters whose names evaporate into thin air as soon as their bodies are laid to rest. Italy was the birthplace of many great male artists and thinkers: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Dante Alighieri, and Galileo. The towering shadows of these mythologized men conceal equally great Italian women including Rita Levi Montalcini and many others.

Inspired by the work of Anna Maria Luisa de’Medici, who willed the family art collection to form the Uffizi Gallery, “L’Eredità delle Donne” is meant to honor women writers, scientists, artists, actresses and philosophers who have contributed in significant ways to Florentine and Italian culture. Involving 24 cultural organizations including museums, movie theaters and city sites, the festival includes a robust program meant to ignite conversation about women’s role in Florence’s cultural history.

Participants and Programs

Palazzo Corsini (via del Parione) will host a free museum day in partnership with the festival on Sept. 22 beginning at 9 am. This will mark the first time that the entire Corsini collection, which houses the works of Pontormo, Filippo Lippi, Giovanni Bellini and Caravaggio, will be accessible to the public, with guided tours led by Corsini granddaughters.

In conjunction with Palazzo Strozzi’s exhibition “Marina Abramovic. The Cleaner,” there will be free guided tours led by the art historian and critic Constantino D’Orazio on Sept. 22 from 4 – 5:15 pm.

Spazio Alfieri will host a number of events.  Entertainment journalists Ernesto Assante and Gino Castaldo will teach audience members about the history of rock in a multimedia presentation, with special guest Ladyvette on Sept. 22 at 4:30 pm. Afterwards, Stefano Bartezzaghi, writer and linguistic scholar, will lecture on the crossroads between gender and linguistics at 6 pm.

The Museum of Santa Maria Novella will showcase a recently restored 17th century floral tapestry on the morning of Sept. 22. Palazzo Vecchio will host free visits and historical re-enactments of the daily life of Duke Cosimo I de’Medici and his wife Eleonora di Toledo on Sept. 22.  There will be a free bike tour throughout the city on Sept. 23 at 3 pm and at 4:30 pm. Participants will stop at the houses of six politically and artistically influential 18th century Florentine women.

Curated by Adele Tulli, Cinema La Compagnia (via Cavour) will screen a series of biographical documentaries highlighting important women throughout history on Sept. 22 and 23. Iconic film director Lina Wertmuller will be interviewed by Elena Stancanelli at La Compagnia on Sept. 22 at 8:30 pm.

The exhibition space in the Fondazione CR Firenze will open the show “Artiste. Firenze 1900-1950” on Sept. 22. Curated by Lucia Manini and Chiara Tori, the show will feature the works of a number of female Italian artists.  A talk and a reading on Anna Maria Luisa de’Medici will take place at the Medici Chapel Museum on Sept. 23 from 4:30 – 6 pm.

Santa Maria Nuova Hospital will offer guided tours revealing Monna Tessa’s initiative to found the hospital’s first company of nurses on the morning of Sept. 22. Villa la Quiete will offer free guided tours by reservation by three professors at the University of Florence on Sept. 22 and 23 to unveil the four important historical figures who owned the property: Grand Duchess Christina of Lorraine, Eleonora Ramirez de Montalvo, Grand Duchess Vittoria della Rovere and Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici.

On the terrace of the Biblioteca delle Oblate, five businesswomen and female gallerists and art collectors will engage in a round-table discussion on Sept. 23 at 6 pm, and there will be readings by female poets and novelists.

For more details about all events, see the Eredita delle Donne site.  (isabelle blank)