The women of ancient Pompeii come to life in a new exhibition

The discovery of the living conditions of women and girls, the many aspects of their daily lives, and the roles they held within the household and Roman society—particularly in a Campanian city like Pompeii—is the central theme of the exhibition “Being a Woman in Ancient Pompeii”, taking place from April 16, 2025, to January 31, 2026 at the Palestra Grande of the archaeological site. Curated by Francesca Ghedini and Monica Salvadori, the exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Universities of Padua, Salerno, and Verona.

Thanks to its extraordinary state of preservation, Pompeii serves as a privileged vantage point. The documentation uncovered over nearly three centuries of excavations offers invaluable insights into the role of women in Roman society—a subject often elusive elsewhere due to the scarcity of evidence. Pompeii, however, reveals not only the lives of society’s elite women but also those of the “common” people, who were the focus of the previous exhibition “The Other Pompeii,” with which this new show is in direct continuity.

The exhibition unfolds across eight thematic sections, showcasing frescoes, private and funerary portraits, graffiti, inscriptions, and everyday objects to explore the lives of various groups of women: matrons, freedwomen, and slaves—through different stages of life: birth, childhood, marriage, motherhood, and death. It also highlights the many social roles they held: from the significant social, economic, and religious activities of high-ranking matrons and wealthy freedwomen to the wide array of professions performed by both freed and enslaved women (spinners and weavers, innkeepers, vendors, bakers, doctors, sorceresses, prostitutes, etc.).

The exhibition is accessible with the campania>artecard pass.

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