On Monday, April 20, Syracuse Florence partnered once again with writer and cultural curator Linda Falcone of Calliope Arts for a Women Artists Wikipedia Editing Marathon — an event that has become one of the most energizing traditions on our academic calendar.
The first edition took place in 2014 and the second was held last year. This third edition proved so successful and so genuinely moving for everyone involved that we have decided to make it a permanent fixture: from now on, we will host the marathon once a semester.
This year’s edition brought together over 40 participants — including five art history graduate students, undergraduates, staff, faculty, and members of the public — in a shared effort to give long-overdue visibility to forgotten women artists. Among our special guests were two members of Wiki Donne, who traveled from Rome to Florence especially for the occasion. We were also deeply honored by the presence of the granddaughter of Lola Costa, one of the artists whose Wikipedia page we worked on that day.
Taking inspiration from Wiki Donne, we titled the event “Before the Selfie” — a reminder of how much harder it was for women artists to publicize their work before the age of social media. An artist like Elena Salvini Pierallini — Florentine embroiderer, photographer, and book artist, also known as ESP — could enjoy a full career with international exhibitions and leave almost no trace of herself online.
In the morning, our five graduate students rose to that challenge by creating a brand-new Wikipedia page for Pierallini, currently under review with Wikipedia editors. The timing proved serendipitous: Linda Falcone was able to share with the group that an exhibition of Pierallini’s work is being planned for this coming summer, making our students’ contribution all the more timely and meaningful.
The afternoon saw two parallel working groups tackle two more overlooked figures. The first created a new page for Flavia Arlotta, a painter of equal talent to her better-known painter husband, but far less recognized by history. The second group expanded the existing entry for Lola Costa, whose Villa Il Palmerino — nestled in the hills above Florence — continues to be a living hub for artists to this day.
The atmosphere throughout was electric. There is something uniquely powerful about pressing “publish” and knowing that, from that moment on, a woman who had been all but invisible to the internet simply… isn’t anymore.
We are proud to be doing our part to close a significant gap: women represent only 17% of biographies on Italian Wikipedia, and 20% on English Wikipedia. With our students, our faculty, and the engaged members of the public who join us for these events, we are committed to making those numbers grow — one page at a time.