Gabriella Gribaudi was born and graduated in Turin in history, then moved to Naples in 1974 as a fellow at the Center for Specialization and Development for the Mezzogiorno in Portici.
She worked as a researcher at the University of Naples Federico II from 1983 to 1992, later becoming associate professor and moving to the University of Bari in 1992-1993 before returning to Naples in 1994 as full professor of contemporary history. He directed the Department of Social Sciences at the University Federico II from 2001 to 2007 and was an active participant in several doctoral programs, academic journals and associations.

She began her research with the microhistory of a community in Southern Italy between 1880 and 1980, crossing different and multiple sources with a historical and anthropological approach.
In her studies she always stressed methodological problems such as the relation between history and social sciences, between micro and macro-contexts.
She has been engaged in a great research on the topic of the second world war, the violence to the civilians and the memories, comparing continuously between the official documentation and the experience of women and men with oral history, the vision “from the top” and a vision “from the bottom" of the events. She has also conducted a research on the memories of the 1980 earthquake in Campania, comparing with other natural disasters.

Gabriella has been interested in memory studies, organizing international conferences and building a multimedia archive of oral and audiovisual testimonies, with a focus on natural disasters and war.

Some of her publications are:

• Napoli in guerra. 1940-1943, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 2023;
• La memoria, i traumi, la storia. La guerra e le catastrofi nel Novecento, Viella, Roma 2020.
• Combattenti sbandati prigionieri. Esperienze e memorie di reduci della Seconda Guerra Mondiale, Donzelli, Roma 2016;
• Traffici criminali. Camorra, mafie e traffici internazionali dell’illegalità (ed. by) Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 2009;
• Guerra totale. Tra bombe alleate e violenze naziste. Napoli e il fronte meridionale 1940-44, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 2005;
• Donne, uomini, famiglie. Napoli nel novecento, L’Ancora, Napoli 1999;
• A Eboli. Il mondo meridionale in cent'anni di trasformazione, Venezia, Marsilio, 1990;
• Mediatori. Antropologia del potere democristiano nel Mezzogiorno, Rosenberg & Sellier, Torino 1980

She has also made short films and documentaries, such as "Dal cancello secondario. Storia di Ebrei a Napoli," which tells the story of Jews in Naples during World War II, and "Terra Bruciata" about Nazi massacres in Campania.
She continues to investigate the topic of war and catastrophes, focusing on individual and collective memories, comparing them with national narratives and the role of memory studies.
Gabriella has also investigated in-depth the organized crime in Naples and Southern Italy, examining illegal circuits from the postwar period to the present. She conducted international research and conferences, publishing proceedings analyzing the complexity of the phenomenon.

She has also done several activities abroad, including a residency as visiting scholar at Columbia University in 2008 and serving as an advisor in Exeter University's research on the Allied bombing of Western Europe during World War II. She has also been actively involved in various Italian academic associations, such as SISSCO and the national habilitation committee.

Gabriella Gribaudi was president of the Italian Association of Oral History (AISO) from 2006 to 2013, further contributing to the promotion of historical research and memory studies through this important organization.

She retired in 2018, receiving the title of honorary professor, but continues to be involved in research projects and academic initiatives, maintaining her commitment to the field of contemporary history and oral history.

She is the scientific director of the Storia Orale series published by Editpress in Florence.

The Gabriella Gribaudi pilot archive is a project within the ROADS program that aims to digitize, catalog and preserve the oral archive of Gabriella Gribaudi. The archive contains interviews and life stories collected by Gribaudi during her research since 1979. It includes about 350 audiotapes, hundreds of digital audio and video recordings, photographs, field diaries and transcripts. The project aims to digitize this archive and make it accessible through a specially developed infrastructure.