Florence exhibition explores women's work and culture from 1861 to 1926

A show in Florence spanning over half a century examines female emancipation through two key milestones: the 1861 founding of the Fratellanza Artigiana in Tuscany, which admitted women, and Grazia Deledda's 1926 Nobel Prize in Literature. The exhibition features works by Mario Nunes Vais (photographing Sibilla Aleramo), Fausto Zonaro (portraying his wife Elisa Pante), and naturalist Italian painters depicting women as artists, amazons, or models. Literary voices include Ida Baccini, Sibilla Aleramo, Grazia Deledda, and Florence Nightingale. A section on women's labor in Florence between the 19th and 20th centuries includes documents from the Fratellanza Operaia, Manifattura Tabacchi, and Ginori ceramics factory. However, critic Niccolò Lucarelli notes the exhibition lacks depth, omitting figures like Aleramo (poorly displayed), Giovanni Fattori's female students at the Accademia di Belle Arti (open to women since 1886, e.g., Adele Galeotti Rasetti), and women's roles as workers and nurses during World War I. The show thus fails to fully trace the evolution of women's societal roles.