On November 24th, Prof. Johnny Bertolio (University of Turin and author of Controcanone) and Prof. Francesca Calamita (University of Virginia, former ISI Abroad consortium co-chair and author of Visibili e influenti) participated in a debate at the Libraccio bookstore in Florence titled “The Legacy of Women Authors in Schools: Gender Violence, the Canon, and the School Curriculum.” The event was part of the OFF Program of The Legacy of Women Festival, now in its 8th edition. The panel included art historian Prof. Laura Fenelli; Prof. Francesca Mecatti, curator of the theatre laboratory at Liceo Machiavelli; and Prof. Annalisa Savino, principal of Liceo Da Vinci.
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In many school subjects, women are still presented through narrow roles shaped by a male point of view—such as the witch, the adulteress, the saint, or the quiet and obedient wife. Reading and studying women authors helps us to broaden this perspective. For one thing, it brings in the voices of the other half of the cultural world, thus showing how reality can be described from viewpoints that diverge from the dominant narrative. In Italy, as in many other countries, women continued to create art and literature even when society pushed their work to the margins. Today, as academic studies embrace new approaches that consider multiple pasts and presents rather than solely Eurocentric ones, we should reflect on the limits imposed by gender, the literary canon, and established norms—and move beyond them.
Through a range of examples, the November 24th book launch explored how the work of women writers, painters, sculptors, and many other women across history (mostly forgotten or overlooked) has shaped the world around us. Many women paid a high price for their contributions, facing persecution or erasure, yet they left a rich and varied cultural heritage. The teachers and school administrators participating in the event shared their experiences with classroom practices and workshops, also in relation to current regulations, the ministerial guidelines (the so-called “Indicazioni nazionali”, currently under review), interdisciplinary approaches, and the evolving vision of education in Italy.