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Everybody knows that Rome is home to some of the world’s greatest museums but not everyone is aware that the management of the city’s cultural heritage lies largely in the hands of women.<\/p>\n
This is something to celebrate – and not just\u00a0on\u00a0Giornata Internazionale della Donna\u00a0–\u00a0as Italy strives to improve its\u00a0gender equality record.<\/p>\n
Federica Rinaldi<\/strong>\u00a0is an archaeologist and cultural heritage manager who currently serves as the director of the Museo Nazionale Romano network of Roman museums. Appointed to the position in October 2025, she oversees one of Italy’s most prestigious cultural institutions which comprises Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Palazzo Altemps, and the Crypta Balbi (temporarily closed). Rinaldi previously served with the special superintendency of Rome and was the official in charge of the Colosseum within the Parco archaeologico del Colosseo which until recently was headed by\u00a0Alfonsina Russo\u00a0before she became\u00a0the head of the culture ministry’s department for the Enhancement of Cultural Heritage (DiVa).<\/p>\n Federica Rinaldi<\/span><\/p>\n In 2016 Pope Francis appointed\u00a0Babara Jatta<\/strong>\u00a0as the first woman director of the\u00a0Vatican Museums\u00a0which includes the Sistine Chapel.\u00a0A specialist in art history,\u00a0Jatta\u00a0has overseen\u00a0multiple\u00a0restoration projects, including the frescoes in the Raphael Rooms, and has organised a series of special events for the Vatican’s current\u00a0Jubilee Year. She has also raised the profile of one of the world’s most prestigious museums and is the most prominent female administrator in the Vatican.<\/p>\n Barbara Jatta.\u00a0Photo Huffington Post.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Galleria Borghese, home to a priceless collection of works by\u00a0Bernini,\u00a0Caravaggio\u00a0and\u00a0Raphael, is directed by professor of modern art history\u00a0Francesca Cappelletti\u00a0<\/strong>who took over in 2020 from the long-standing director Anna Coliva. Within her first few months Cappelletti acquired a\u00a0Guido Reni\u00a0painting for the Villa Borghese collection and since then has launched a series of new digital programmes and staged major exhibitions involving leading contemporary artists. Cappelletti is also one of the curators of the freshly opened\u00a0Caravaggio blockbuster\u00a0at Palazzo Barberini.<\/p>\n Francesca Cappelletti.\u00a0Photo La Repubblica.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Edith Gabrielli<\/strong>\u00a0is the first director of VIVE, the newly-created autonomous museum in the capital which combines the Vittoriano and Palazzo Venezia. A scholar of art history and museology, Gabrielli has a long career within the ranks of Italy’s culture ministry, becoming its youngest historic art director in 2010. She is currently overseeing a major\u00a0restoration of the Vittoriano\u00a0and the integration of advanced digital storytelling to enhance visitor accessibility. Gabrielli recently\u00a0served as interim director of the Museo Nazionale Romano.<\/p>\n Edith Gabrielli<\/span><\/p>\n The Galleria Nazionale d\u2019Arte Moderna e Contemporanea hosts Italy’s national collection of modern art and is run by\u00a0Renata Cristina Mazzantini<\/strong>\u00a0who recently in 2023 replaced\u00a0Cristiana Collu after eight years at the helm. An architect and curator,\u00a0Mazzantini\u00a0is known for\u00a0curating the\u00a0Quirinale Contemporaneo\u00a0project as well as numerous other cultural projects and exhibitions. Since her arrival at the\u00a0national modern art gallery she has overseen several high-profile shows and has reinstated the GNAM acronym dropped by her predecessor, adding “C” at the end to indicate contemporary art (GNAMC).<\/p>\n Renata Cristina Mazzantini. Photo Alessandro Moggi –\u00a0Il Giornale dell’Arte<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n Maria Emanuela Bruni<\/strong>\u00a0is a journalist and art historian who has served as the president of MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts, in Rome. Appointed in late 2024, she became the first woman to lead MAXXI, succeeding Alessandro Giuli following his appointment as minister of culture. Bruni previously broke gender barriers in 2008 as the first female head of the press office for the presidency of the Council of Ministers at Palazzo Chigi. With decades of experience in institutional communication and cultural diplomacy, she has coordinated multiple high-level international events. Bruni is currently overseeing an ambitious urban regeneration and expansion project called Grande MAXXI.<\/p>\n Maria Emanuela Bruni<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" To mark International Women’s Day we\u00a0look at\u00a0Rome’s museums and archaeological sites that are run by women. Everybody knows that Rome is home to some of the world’s greatest museums but not everyone is aware that the management of the city’s cultural heritage lies largely in the hands of women. This is something to celebrate –<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[29559,2549,3007,10186],"class_list":["post-45360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eventi","tag-charge","tag-museums","tag-romes","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/polinex.cluster021.hosting.ovh.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/polinex.cluster021.hosting.ovh.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/polinex.cluster021.hosting.ovh.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/polinex.cluster021.hosting.ovh.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/polinex.cluster021.hosting.ovh.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/polinex.cluster021.hosting.ovh.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/polinex.cluster021.hosting.ovh.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/polinex.cluster021.hosting.ovh.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/polinex.cluster021.hosting.ovh.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/polinex.cluster021.hosting.ovh.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}