Francesca LaPasta, the 2027 Emeline Hill Richardson/Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Rome Prize in Ancient Studies, is a PhD candidate in Classical Archaeology in the Department of Ancient Greek and Roman Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently working on her dissertation, titled Living under Lock and Key: Slavery and Security in the Houses of Pompeii. For the past five years, she has spent her summers undertaking research in Pompeii as a finds specialist and archival analyst, both as part of the Pompeii Artifact Life History Project (PALHIP), directed by J. Theodore Peña (American Academy in Rome Fellow 1983–1985), and independently. She spent the past year as the Resident Instructor at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome, leading passionate students through the archaeological sites and museums of the city. Francesca’s work investigates material culture, the Roman built environment, and Latin literature in order to create nuanced understandings of the lives of marginalized people in the ancient world.
What project will you be embarking upon during your time at the Academy?
I will be working on my dissertation, which focuses on the organization of the ancient Roman household and the lived experiences of enslaved people through the lens of security. I’m primarily looking at material from Pompeii. At the moment, I am occupied by a consideration of locks and keys and how these artifacts can provide information about the way people navigated houses, as well as how locking furniture and boxes mediated access to certain objects. While locks and keys affect everyone in the house, they are a clear place where the choices of the enslavers who owned the house impact the daily activities of enslaved people. I consider this from the point of view of enslaved people undertaking labor in the house and also of enslavers who considered enslaved people to be valuable property. I’m currently grappling with a set of typologies that will help me untangle the way locks and keys functioned and shaped the experiences of ancient household members, while also figuring out a comprehensible way to describe how lock mechanisms actually work.
What aspects of the city and Academy life are you most interested in exploring?
While my current project is specifically focused on Pompeii, I am very excited to complicate my picture of security, both in the ancient world and the modern one, while at the Academy. One thing I would really love to do is interview the guards who work here at the Academy and get their perspective on how security functions. In some ways, the security system here is similar to the ancient Roman approach, where individual people learn to recognize the inhabitants of a domestic property and grant access based on personal knowledge, supplemented by mechanisms like locks. Alongside this fascination with how security functions in a modern community, I am always looking out for locks and keys in the museums of Rome.
I am also very excited to explore archaeological sites alongside artists, architects, and other scholars with creative approaches to the ancient world. At the top of my list at the moment is a trip to Ostia Antica, which has useful architectural comparanda for my work on Pompeii. I’m already talking with one of the Fellows in architecture about making a joint trip, and I think it will be hugely beneficial to both of us. The opportunity to see other people’s perspectives and benefit from their expertise has already been really inspiring to me, and I’m interested to see which directions these collaborations take me in over the course of the year.
What encounters, experiences, or moments in your first days at the Academy have inspired, surprised, or encouraged you thus far?
One of the most surprising and delightful moments so far has been the trip to visit the aqueduct in the basement of the Academy. I know that in Rome there are always ancient remains under your feet, but I can’t say I’ve ever lived in a building where the ancient world is so immediate that you can simply pick up a tile in the floor and climb into an ancient architectural marvel. Beyond seeing the aqueduct itself, it was fun encountering other residents of the Academy as they moved through the underground space, all of us barely believing this could be real. I also had a similar feeling of disbelief entering the library at night, even though I will admit I found that a little bit spooky.
I’ve also felt very inspired by the chance moments of chatting and sharing that happen here. A few nights ago, I stayed up late playing pool, talking, and doing a bit of knitting in the salone. What started as some idle chatter ended up with a debate on when the Late Antique period started, a discussion of the travels of the Visigoths, and new insights into the way the educational system in Fine Arts has changed over the years. The richness of the conversation was incredible, but I also really appreciate the casual camaraderie here, with intellectual debate happening in the same breath as banter about which team would win at pool.
How did you prepare to move to Rome and the Academy?
I’m lucky in that I had already been living in Monteverde for the past year, teaching at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome. I did make sure to bring two jars of my favorite peanut butter from the United States in my checked bag, and I’m hoping to convince visitors to bring more jars to keep me supplied over the course of the year. I also got a haircut, since even after three weeks of intensive Italian, I’m still a bit shy about getting my bangs trimmed here.