In occasion of the launch of the book Women and Ruins, curators Caroline Goodson (Mellon Professor for the Humanities), and Ilaria Puri Purini (Andrew Heiskell Arts Director) will be in conversation hosted at the Fondazione Rovati in Milan together with Laura M. Michetti (Sapienza University of Rome) and Roberta Valtorta (IULM University). The exhibition celebrates the explorers, archaeologists, and photographers who, in the early twentieth century, used photography to document excavations and the transformations of post-Unification Italy. At a time when social conventions limited women’s presence in research, figures such as Esther Van Deman, Marion Blake, Agnes and Dora Bulwer, Gertrude Bell, and Maria Pasolini Ponti captured the golden age of Roman archaeology and beyond, from Mediterranean sites to Turkey.

The catalogue Women & Ruins: Archaeology, Photography, and Landscape is published by Allemandi, Torino. Authors include Martina Caruso, Caroline Goodson, Raffaella Silvestri, and Ilaria Puri Purini.

This event is presented as part of the public programming for the exhibition Women and Ruins: Archaeology, Photography, and Landscape on show at the Academy until November 9, 2025.

The event is free and open to the public. Please reserve your seat in advance. The event will be recorded and available on the Youtube channel of the Fondazione Rovati.