Theater: Feminine plural

The photographic and documentary exhibition at the Villino Corsini Library in Villa Pamphilj presents important female figures of the Italian theater, as well as actresses who didn’t have leading roles, from the second half of the 19th century to the early 1940s.

And it is thus that through photos, posters, theater magazines and other documents, all original, that visitors can get to know or rediscover great actresses such as Adelaide Ristori or Giacinta Pezzana who discovered Eleonora Duse and Garibalda Landini Niccoli who were among the first female entrepreneurs, and then again Italia Vitaliani, Tina Di Lorenzo, the famous sisters Irma and Emma Gramatica, Marta Abba known for being Pirandello' Muse.

Not forgetting Virginia Reiter, Lyda and Alda Borelli, Ines Cristina, Paola Borboni, Elsa Merlini, Vera Vergani, Evi Maltagliati, Anna Magnani, Rina Franchetti, Kiki Palmer, Andreina Pagnani and the Russian Tatiana Pavlova. All figures that stand out in the panorama of the Italian theater of the time, made up mostly of male performers.

The merit of the exhibition is therefore to free these important figures of women from the oblivion of time bringing them back to the attention of the public and fans.

Photo credits: courtesy of the Villino Corsini Library in Villa Pamphilj