8 March, International Women's Day 2023 - events and initiatives

Celebrated for the first time in 1909 in the United States, International Women's Day remembers women's social, economic, and political achievements and the discrimination they have been and still are subject to in the world. Rome celebrates the anniversary with a wide-ranging program of initiatives involving state and municipal spaces and places in the city.

Roma Capitale promotes over 60 events throughout March, including guided tours, theatrical performances, concerts, public readings, themed walks, initiatives against gender-based violence, and sporting events. Libraries of Rome also celebrate women with appointments and initiatives for children and schools, with reading recommendations and presentations of new publications inspired by rights, emancipation, and female figures who emerge through art and literature.

The valorisation of female talent in art and culture is also at the center of the events promoted by Roma Culture, the Capitoline Superintendency for Cultural Heritage, and Zètema Progetto Cultura, with guided visits to museums and civic archaeological sites and walks along the streets of the city. The Capitoline Museums, for example, narrate the female universe taking inspiration from the masterpieces of the Pinacoteca Capitolina; the guided tour in the Archaeological area of ​​the Imperial Fora is an opportunity to recall the stories of some women from the Middle Ages to the 18th century. The women of the Roman Risorgimento are on stage at the Museum of the Roman Republic; the Museum of the Roman School of Villa Torlonia pays homage to the female artists who renewed the Roman cultural environment between the wars. Every day women and princesses, empresses and goddesses, intellectuals and noblewomen are the focus of visits to the Centrale Montemartini and the Napoleonic Museum. Finally, the Museum of Rome recalls the figure of the 18th-century poet Petronilla Paolini; the Museum of the Walls dedicates its meetings to female spirituality and devotion. The rich program does not lack itineraries through the city's streets, from the Campo Marzio to the Caffarella from San Lorenzo to Piazza di Porta Capena. View the complete program here.

In state museums and places of culture, on the orders of the Ministry of Culture, free admission is instead provided for all women, with activities aimed at making the museum public aware of the cultural importance of this celebration.

Lastly, the Vatican Museums are also taking part in the celebrations by dedicating three dates to the anniversary (4, 8, and 11 March) and offering their visitors an original themed guided tour experience to discover those extraordinary women in the Vatican collections through their holiness have significantly contributed to the life of the Church.

International Women's Day 2023 - events and initiatives organized by Roma Capitale

International Women's Day 2023 - free admission for women to state museums and places of culture