ERC-2021-StG 101041826 – FragArist “The Fragments of Aristotle: A Reconstruction of his Lost Works” – Prof. Gertjan Verhasselt

CUP C93C22009300006

Principal Investigator Prof. Gertjan Verhasselt
Project duration 01/06/2023 – 31/05/2028

Abstract:

One of the greatest minds of antiquity was no doubt Aristotle. He left a lasting impression on Western civilization, influencing among others the Founding Fathers in designing the US constitution. But what many do not know is that only a fraction of his works survives. Those preserved through medieval transmission - his so-called esoteric works - go back to college lectures and were intended to be used by his small circle of students. But Aristotle also wrote many works for a wider audience, which survive only in "fragments," i.e. citations in later authors, and a number of epitomes. In fact, what is preserved today is not what Aristotle was famous for throughout most of antiquity or even what he intended to be known for. Yet modern research focuses almost exclusively on the esoteric works. The result is that the Aristotle one meets in contemporary scholarship is really only the Aristotle of the preserved school writings. In order to truly understand his views on politics, ethics, poetry, rhetoric, logic and the soul or his approach as a scientist and historian, we must also study the lost works. The fragments are essential to understand his philosophy and assess his impact on Western thought. FragArist aims to shift the attention back to what were initially his most important works and establish a new understanding of Aristotle by reconstructing and interpreting his lost works. We will combine methods taken from philology, papyrology, philosophy, ancient history and Digital Humanities and apply pioneering editing techniques and the latest cutting-edge imaging techniques. For the first time we will also incorporate the fragments found in Syriac and Arabic sources. We will create a radically new perspective on Aristotle's personality and elucidate his influence on later authors, including the Alexandrian grammarians, Roman philosophers, Neoplatonic philosophers and Christian authors. This will also revolutionize our knowledge of the history of literature and science.

This project was financed by the “European Research Council Executive Agency (ERCEA)” in the framework of the EU Horizon Europe programme (N. Grant Agreement 101041826)

  ERC-2023-CoG 101124518 – EU-GUNS A Continent Disarmed? Gun Culture, Gun Control and the Making of Western Europe (ca. 1870-1970) – Prof. Matteo Millan

CUP C93C23009250006

Principal Investigator Prof. Matteo Millan
Project duration 01/10/2024 – 30/09/2029

Abstract:

This research project is a comparative and transnational historical investigation of the lawful possession and use of small firearms by law-abiding civilians in Europe between ca. 1870 and ca. 1970. Over the course of this century-long period, Europe underwent a silent revolution, which led it from being a continent where guns were in daily use to becoming a place where weapons in civilians’ hands became associated with violence and crime. This led to the progressive establishment of gun control measures and to the cultural deglamorization and depoliticization of guns as a cornerstone of public order, social peace and, more generally, the smooth running of political systems. The overall goal of the project is to study the root causes of this shift and its impact on European history. The project provides a wide-ranging examination of the gun question. It adopts an integrated methodological approach that encompasses legislative measures, cultural representations and gun-related practices within a broad, comparative and transnational diachronic framework involving select countries in Western Europe (France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden). Heuristically, the project does not equate the possession and use of guns with political violence and warfare; instead, it focuses on lawful gun ownership and use. This constitutes a privileged point of view and a fundamental benchmark to fully grasp the impact and cultural roots of political violence. The project has the ambition to write the first political, social and cultural history of the gun question in Europe. It will not only fill a major gap in the current literature, but also newly address the relationship between processes of enlargement of states’ competences, the control of violence and the rights of individuals, which ultimately lies at the core of the making of modern and contemporary Europe and the nature of European citizenship.

This project was financed by the “European Research Council Executive Agency (ERCEA)” in the framework of the EU Horizon Europe programme (N. Grant Agreement 101124518)

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  HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01 Global Fellowship 101066188 – DaShoW “A Darker Shade of Whiteness: The Italian Ethnic Press in Louisiana and the Making of Racial Awareness in The Gulf South (1877-1945)” – Dott. Matteo Brera – Supervisor Prof. Stefano Luconi

CUP C93C22009400006

Fellow Dott. Matteo Brera

Supervisor Prof. Stefano Luconi
Project duration 01/11/2023 – 31/10/2026

Abstract:

The stereotypical representations of Italians as racially inferior and dangerous for public security saturated the American public discourse at the end of the Reconstruction (1877) and tragically materialized in 1891 when 11 Italian Americans were lynched in New Orleans. The racial landscape of the Crescent City is exemplary of the Italian migrants’ struggle for acceptance across the South and can be fruitfully used as a testbed to study the intertwining of diaspora and race both in the Gulf South and nationally. Through the study of the public discourse emerging from rare and still understudied Italian-language ethno-cultural periodicals published in Louisiana and widely distributed outside the state, DaShoW illuminates how the shifting discourses on Africans, African Americans, Native Americans published in the Italian-language periodical press contributed to ‘manufacture, assert and defend the Italian race’ within one of the largest diasporic Italian communities in the United States. The project will demonstrate how the racialization of Southern Italians in New Orleans and Louisiana was the result of the appropriation of stereotypes rooted in the North/South post-Risorgimento divide transposed from Italy and rhetorical strategies ascribable to the Italian Positive School of Criminology. DaShoW will study the rhetorical and practical strategies through which the Italian communities of Louisiana and the Gulf South negotiated their racial standing between 1877, which ended the Reconstruction thus paving the way for the deprival of African Americans’ voting rights, and the formation of an early Southern civil right movement (1945). DaSHoW promotes a comprehensive framing of the Italian diasporic presence in the racialized geographical, social and cultural context of the Gulf South and aims to preserve and popularize perishable documents for the study of Italian emigration through the digitization of primary sources and the production of digital learning tools.

This project was financed by the “European Research Executive Agency (REA)” in the framework of the EU Horizon Europe programme (N. Grant Agreement 101066188)

  HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01 Global Fellowship 101110169 – BridgHe “Bridging Greek Philosophy, Christianity, and Islam: An Edition of the Late Antique Testimonies of Heraclitus” – Dott. Max Bergamo – Supervisor Prof. Luciano Bossina

CUP C93C23006360006

Fellow Dott. Max Bergamo

Supervisor Prof. Luciano Bossina
Project duration 01/12/2023 – 30/11/2026

Abstract:

The chief objective of the project is to produce the first complete collection of the Late Antique testimonies concerning the early Greek philosopher Heraclitus. This source collection will include an English translation of the texts in the various relevant languages (mainly Greek and Arabic, but also Latin, Coptic, and Syriac) and a running commentary of the testimonies, highlighting both the philological and the philosophical importance of the Late Antique afterlife of Heraclitus. The project will thus also provide the very first in-depth study of the reception of the thought and the tenets of Heraclitus in this fundamental period. The name of Heraclitus was still resonating in third century Rome, fifth century Alexandria, and ninth century Baghdad, but no one has put together the existing evidence to tell that story yet. The main philosophical and exegetical objective of the project thus consists not only in the analysis of the various ways in which different authors have expounded the views and the sayings of Heraclitus, but also in the assessment of the remarkable patterns of continuity and change that characterise the Heraclitean interpretations in the broad chronological span of Late Antiquity. The figure of Heraclitus lies, indeed, at the intersection of historical periods and exegetical traditions that tend to be considered separately. My project aims to challenge this approach by showing that the literary and philosophical production pertaining to research fields such as Greek Philosophy, Christianity, and Islam has to be jointly taken into account if we want to understand both the interpretative history and the theoretical relevance of the tenets of Heraclitus. For this reason, the project includes not only the Greek reception of Heraclitus but also domains neglected by scholarly research such as the Gnostic writings of the Nag Hammadi library and the texts produced in the framework of the translation movement from Greek into Syriac and Arabic.

This project was financed by the “European Research Executive Agency (REA)” in the framework of the EU Horizon Europe programme (N. Grant Agreement 101110169)

  HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01 Global Fellowship 101108617 – SILKRAA “The Silk Route Across the Alps. Craftsmen Migrations, Commercial Exchanges & Social Relations Between France & Italy in the Early Modern Period” – Dott. Mario Grassi – Supervisor Prof. Andrea Caracausi

CUP C93C23003590006

Fellow Dott. Mario Grassi

Supervisor Prof. Andrea Caracausi
Project duration 01/09/2023 – 28/02/2027

Abstract:

My research project aims at reconstructing the dynamics of the migration of silk weavers between Italy and France during the early modern age. To do so, an interdisciplinary approach will be put in place that brings together socioeconomic history, migration, labor and gender studies, history of techniques and material culture. Combining macro-historical, micro-historical and biographical reconstruction it will be possible to participate in the renewal of studies of migratory phenomena in the Early Modern period. By using digital humanities, a database will be created. It will collect both demographic data, biographical information and visual and material evidence from Italian and French museums to answer questions such as: What is the balance between attraction/repulsion policies and integration/emargination dynamics? Who is the migrant artisan and why does he migrate? What contribution does migration bring to the country of arrival and country of departure? The investigation of this subject will demonstrate that professional migrations played a key role in the success of the European silk industries in the old regime. Training in Italian and international historical research methods, and a close dialogue with historians and experts will be crucial for the realization of the project. The results achieved will play a crucial role both in terms of academic results and societal impact. Through the publication of articles in scientific journals, participation in conferences and the organisation of lectures and seminars, the results of the project will be widely disseminated. In addition, extensive communication activities are planned (social networking, meetings with the general public and participation in events organised by the European Union). This project will represent an important starting point for my introduction into the academic field, allowing me to expand my skills and my network of knowledge through both European and non-European collaborations.

This project was financed by the “European Research Executive Agency (REA)” in the framework of the EU Horizon Europe programme (N. Grant Agreement 101108617)

  HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01 Global Fellowship 101105463 – TRAUMA “Traumatized Subjects: Mental Health, Violence, and the Fabric of Europe Between the Wars (1918-39)” – Dott. Stefano Serafini – Supervisor Prof. Matteo Millan

CUP C93C23009150006

Fellow Dott. Stefano Serafini

Supervisor Prof. Matteo Millan
Project duration 01/09/2024 – 31/08/2027

Abstract:

TRAUMA examines the transnational and trans-medial circulation of key discourses regarding mental health and violence that emerged in interwar Europe (1918–39). I argue that, although the conflict between competing ideologies (Fascism; Liberal Democracy; Communism) undermined the construction of European identity, discourses about mental health and violence played a vital role in fostering the formation of ideas, practices, and values that would later become a central part of the fabric of Europe. Focusing on Britain and Italy and combining cultural studies, medical, legal, and transnational history, TRAUMA explores the depiction of mentally traumatized World War I (WWI) servicemen committing violence. Analyzing sources such as medical and legal texts, novels, periodicals, war memoirs, and handbooks for soldiers, TRAUMA tracks the negotiation of transnational discourses about veterans’ mental health and violent behaviour across Britain and Italy. Due to their antithetical nature, nationally, politically, and medically, and the opposite roles played by their veterans after WWI, these two contexts offer a unique window into the European experience of war trauma and its effects (e.g. post-traumatic stress disorder; domestic violence) and allow to trace the cultural shifts and historical processes (e.g. the de-mythization of the soldier; the rejection of the war) that informed the later socio-cultural construction of Europe. Conducted within three leading universities – Padua (return phase), Georgetown (outgoing phase), and Hamburg (secondment) – TRAUMA promotes debates on how cultural studies can address Europe’s most pressing concerns, as testified by the EU4HealthProgramme 2021–27, and fosters international collaborative research on mental health, trauma, violence, and European commonality. Through a range of outreach activities involving academic and non-academic audiences and institutions, TRAUMA will have major impacts at cultural, social, and educational level.

This project was financed by the “European Research Executive Agency (REA)” in the framework of the EU Horizon Europe programme (N. Grant Agreement 101105463)

  HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01 European Fellowship 101105212 – VIOLLAB “Violence and Labour Discipline in Early Modern Britain” – Dott.ssa Hillary Taylor – Supervisor Prof. Andrea Caracausi

CUP C93C23004340006

Fellow Dott.ssa Hillary Taylor

Supervisor Prof. Andrea Caracausi

Project duration 01/10/2023 – 30/09/2025

Abstract

A 2010 report by the European Agency for Health and Safety at Work (EU-OSHA) notes that work-related violence is a ‘serious issue’ facing workers today. It also results in ‘substantial’ economic losses, through workers’ demoralized absenteeism and reduced productivity. Work-related violence, however, is not a new phenomenon; it has a history. VIOLLAB seeks to provide the first analysis of the causes and consequences of one type of work- related violence in Britain, c. 1550-1800: disciplinary violence. It defines ‘disciplinary violence’ as fatal and non-fatal physical violence (e.g., beatings) that employers or managers used to correct workers’ infractions and to instil a sense of discipline in them. Combining methods from social, economic, and labour history with analytical insights from the sociology of work, VIOLLAB uses a range of sources to shed new light on how disciplinary violence influenced contemporary practices and theories of labour management; (gendered and aged-based) experiences of work; and the legal system's mediation of worker-employer relations. By analyzing the causes and consequences of disciplinary violence across different sectors of the British economy as it was transitioning to agrarian and industrial capitalism and becoming increasingly reliant on unfree labour for the production of colonial commodities, VIOLLAB aims to make transformative contributions to scholarship on work, labour relations/discipline, and the law in a period before the existence of modern labour protection laws and workers’ organizations, and to raise public awareness about problems of work in the 21st century.

This project was financed by the “European Research Executive Agency (REA)” in the framework of the EU Horizon Europe programme (N. Grant Agreement 101105212)

  HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01 Global Fellowship 101153667 – WelMovFem “Welfare on the Move: Female Mobility and Social Care Across the Early Modern Adriatic” – Dott.ssa Teresa Bernardi – Supervisor Prof. Andrea Caracausi

CUP C93C23009280006

Fellow Dott.ssa Teresa Bernardi

Supervisor Prof. Andrea Caracausi

Project duration 01/12/2024 – 30/11/2027

Abstract:

The WelMovFem project explores the interrelation between human mobility and access to pre-modern welfare within the Republic of Venice (from the 16th to the 18th century). The overall objective is to highlight the role of migrant women as both providers and recipients of social protection, focusing on their translocal networks and possessions. Could their geographical mobility influence their capacity to demand certain rights, or otherwise affect the institutions’ abilities to verify the legitimacy of their claim? To answer this question, the research will not be limited to urban charity institutions, but will encompass various forms of aid that moved between Venice and its Eastern Adriatic domains (e.g., financial aid, inherited possessions, dowries, and slave ransoms). Intertwining a quantitative analysis and an in-depth study of the sources will be essential to uncovering the significance of women’s material resources in empowering kinship, family, and community ties even across great distances. Through the adoption of an interdisciplinary approach, which combines gender history with mobility studies and digital humanities, the WelMovFem project will result in an innovative and ambitious vision of social care in a region that connects various facets of European culture. The research data will be accessible to scholars and the wider public through a web digital platform for the humanities, which will provide a starting point for future research. The project’s ultimate aim is to enrich ongoing discussions about migrants’ rights from a historical perspective, enabling EU policymakers to have a long-term view of the current migratory phenomena and raising EU citizens’ awareness of these global issues. The researcher’s mobility between various academic settings (the US, Italy, and Croatia) will enable her to acquire new interdisciplinary skills, expand her social and professional networks, and enhance her career opportunities within and outside of academia.

This project was financed by the “European Research Executive Agency (REA)” in the framework of the EU Horizon Europe programme (N. Grant Agreement 101153667)

  HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01 European Fellowship 101154204 – ThiMa “Things that Matter: Mobility and Agency of Everyday Objects in Late Medieval Italy” – Dott.ssa Serena Galasso – Supervisor Prof.ssa Isabelle Chabot

CUP C93C24008410006

Fellow Dott.ssa Serena Galasso

Supervisor Prof.ssa Isabelle Chabot

Project duration 01/09/2025 – 31/08/2027

Abstract:

ThiMa challenges the assumption that action is a human prerogative by examining how everyday objects served as agents of transformation in late medieval societies. Investigating the boundary between material and human agency is particularly critical for the present, where new artificial intelligences call into question the very essence of being human. ThiMa reflects on these matters from another watershed moment in the redefinition of European material culture. Between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, everyday goods diversified and there was a significant increase of objects in circulation. This period can thus serve as a crucial laboratory to explore the impact of ordinary things on people’s social behavior and emotional life. For the first time, ThiMa examines objects as agents that interacted with individuals, mediating social relationships and moving emotions, (ways of) thinking, and perceptions through their peculiar material language. To investigate these questions, this project employs a bold new comparative framework in the richly documented but diverse environments of Tuscany and Sicily. This critical move away from siloed approaches to material culture allows us to better understand how socio-economic, institutional, and legal contexts influenced the complex relationship between human and things. The project interrogates a broad range of textual and material sources, using quantitative and qualitative methods, cutting-edge digital tools and drawing on a ground-breaking theoretical framework on material agency. Thanks to this novel approach, ThiMa will profoundly advance our understanding of how humans perceive and interact with their material environment from the medieval past to the present day.

This project was financed by the “European Research Executive Agency (REA)” in the framework of the EU Horizon Europe programme (N. Grant Agreement 101154204)

  HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01 European Fellowship 101149130 – SAIL “Sicilians dreAmIng Louisiana: Agents of Migration and Labour Recruiters on the Palermo-New Orleans Route (1865-1901)” – Dott.ssa Alice Gussoni – Supervisor Prof. Stefano Luconi

CUP C93C24003600006

Fellow Dott.ssa Alice Gussoni

Supervisor Prof. Stefano Luconi

Project duration 01/09/2024 – 31/08/2026

Abstract:

SAIL analyses early migration from Sicily to Louisiana between 1865 and 1901. It sheds light on agents of migration who enrolled peasants in Sicily and on their transnational connections with labour recruiters based in Louisiana, who were looking for a labour force after the abolition of slavery at the end of the US Civil War in 1865. On the other side of the Atlantic, the Italian government considered emigration as an issue to be managed or opposed: the 1901 law restricted the activity of agents of migration, who were regarded as people smugglers and used as a scapegoat to justify migration, rather than being studied as one of the interrelated factors triggering it. This simplistic view permeated the public debate in Italy, has not been challenged by scholarship on Sicilian migration, and resonates with current populist and xenophobic narratives. SAIL offers the first comprehensive study of early Sicilian migration to Louisiana by adopting an interdisciplinary approach combining social, economic, and cultural history with literature. Thanks to a thorough investigation and cross-referencing of untapped Italian and US archival sources and literary works, SAIL maps the presence of agents of migration in Sicily, analysing their identity, background, methods, organisation, and the transnational connections with labour recruiters in Louisiana, gauging their effectiveness in disseminating a dreaming image of the USA among Sicilian peasants and examining the extent to which their activity impacted the migration flow alongside other factors (economic depression, political turmoil, chain migration, remittances). SAIL will fill a scholarly gap, develop tools for researching migrations, and reflect on Sicily’s past and its present as one of the main gateways into Europe. Through activities involving academic and non-academic audiences, SAIL will stimulate a debate and raise awareness around one of Europe’s most pressing concerns: safeguarding the right to safe migration.

This project was financed by the “European Research Executive Agency (REA)” in the framework of the EU Horizon Europe programme (N. Grant Agreement 101149130)

  HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01 Global Fellowship 101146728 – CHArT “Celestial Hierarchy in Arabic Translation” – Dott. Giovanni Mandolino – Supervisor Prof.ssa Cecilia Martini

CUP C93C24001340006

Fellow Dott. Giovanni Mandolino

Supervisor Prof.ssa Cecilia Martini

Project duration 01/05/2024 – 30/04/2027

Abstract:

CHArT aims at investigating how Arabic Christianity living in a predominantly Islamic environment assimilated its own foundational religious heritage through a momentous translation process from Greek into Arabic. The case study is chosen among the unpublished Arabic translations of the mysterious Christian theologian known as Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (early 6th century CE), whose entrance in the Arab world in the 10th-11th centuries intertwines with crucial Middle Eastern intellectual milieus. CHArT’s overarching objective consists in charting the assimilation of this author in Arabic, by publishing both the Arabic translations of Pseudo-Dionysius’ influential treatise On Celestial Hierarchy and placing them for the first time into the broader Arabic cultural landscape. The project objectives will be achieved thanks to an interdisciplinary combination of textual criticism, codicology, paleography, as well as disciplines which will shed light on the cultural milieus behind the translations. The project results will open up new fields of research on the Arabic, Byzantine, and Georgian fortune of Pseudo-Dionysius, as well as on possible cross-pollinations between religious cultures within the Islamic world. In turn, this will contribute to the broader goal of reconstructing the history of Christianity in the Middle East and its relationships with Islam.

This project was financed by the “European Research Executive Agency (REA)” in the framework of the EU Horizon Europe programme (N. Grant Agreement 101146728)

  HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01 Global Fellowship 101204745 – OBSEX “Objects of Pleasure. The Contribute of Anthropological Material Culture to the Emergence of SexualScience (1870-1940)” – Dott.ssa Francesca Campani – Supervisor Prof.ssa Carlotta Sorba

Fellow Dott.ssa Francesca Campani

Supervisor Prof.ssa Carlotta Sorba

Project duration 01/09/2026 – 28/02/2030

Abstract:

OBSEX explores the crucial, yet overlooked, role that anthropological material culture played in the emergence of sexual science. I argue that, from its outset (1870-1940), Western research on sexual behaviours was not just medical, but that anthropological investigation had a crucial role in making pleasure and desires key interests in the production of scientific knowledge on sexuality. In this way, OBSEX questions Michel Foucault’s dichotomy between an ‘Oriental’ Ars Erotica and a Western Scientia Sexualis by demonstrating that, European scientific knowledge on sexuality was not just focused on pathology, but it was comprised of discourses addressed to pleasure. During OBSEX, I will complement my background in cultural history with new historical scientific and museological skills, crucial to understanding the role of anthropological objects in the development of sexual science. I will use Italy and Britain as main cases to trace the scientific collection, cataloguing and study of the material evidence of ‘primitive’ sexualities (amulets, ornaments, pleasure devices, medical instruments) by anthropologists, folklorists and museum curators, and the impact of their work on sexological theories. I will detect and deconstruct colonialist and gendered narratives embedded in sexological discourses. I will demonstrate that the study of anthropological material culture was not only used to prove the backwardness of the sexuality of the 'Other', but also served a scientific interest on common human features, such as the pursuit of pleasure. In this way, I will be able to show how the study of objects embedding the sexuality of the ‘primitive’ Other had a crucial role in the development of European sexual knowledge and was used as a mirror to read ‘civilised’ sexuality. Showing that from its outset sexual science considered pleasure and desire as constitutive elements of being human, OBSEX will place pleasure at the core of today European debate on sexual health rights.

This project was financed by the “European Research Executive Agency (REA)” in the framework of the EU Horizon Europe programme (N. Grant Agreement 101204745)

  HORIZON-MSCA-2023-SE-01 Staff Exchanges 101182859 – ACTIVATE “The ACtivist, the archivist and the researcher: novel collaborative strategies of Transnational research, archIVing and exhibiting sociAl and poliTical dissent in Europe (19th -21st century)” – Prof.ssa Carlotta Sorba

CUP C93C24008120006

Principal Investigator at UNIPD Prof.ssa Carlotta Sorba

Project duration 01/01/2025 – 31/12/2028

Abstract:

The project “The Activist, the Archivist, and the Researcher: Novel Collaborative Strategies of Transnational Research, Archiving and Exhibiting Social and Political Dissent in Europe (19th-21st centuries)” (ACTIVATE) fosters inter-sectorial and interdisciplinary collaboration through the international research cooperation of 16 academic and non-academic institutions from 7 countries across Western, Central and Eastern Europe. ACTIVATE’s objective is to develop innovative methodologies and new knowledge as well as share best practice based on the principles of diversity, inclusiveness and open science between researchers, archivists, curators and public educators through a reflective approach on social and political dissent in a long-term and comparative perspective. By focusing on the transnational circulation of people, ideas, discourse, practice and archives, ACTIVATE aims first to contribute to a new narrative on European protest and its relations with non-European spaces. Secondly, the project engages reflective archival, research and exhibiting practices to explore the role and impact of archives on different space and time scales, approaching them as an ecosystem of active agents of memory and change. Through secondments and networking, ACTIVATE partners will share their expertise and best practice on material, audiovisual and born-digital documents and data. They will organise thematic seminars, workshops, training and public programmes to increase institutional outreach that will serve as a model for future endeavours, ensuring cooperative relationships and impact on the wider community beyond the life of the project. ACTIVATE strives for new synergies between academic research and heritage institutions, fostering better knowledge, integration and promotion of dispersed cultural heritage, which European democracies need to preserve with care.

This project was financed by the “European Research Executive Agency (REA)” in the framework of the EU Horizon Europe programme (N. Grant Agreement 101182859)

  ERC-2020-ADG 101020613 - Graff-IT "Writing on the Margins: Graffiti in Italy (7th-16th centuries)" – Host Institution Università di Chieti-Pescara - Prof.ssa Nicoletta Giovè

CUP C93C21000380006

Principal Investigator at UNIPD Prof.ssa Nicoletta Giové

Project duration 01/01/2022 – 31/12/2026

Abstract:

The ERC AdvGrant Graff-IT Project aims to develop a new interdisciplinary approach to the study of medieval and Renaissance Italian graffiti (7th – 16th century) as a historical source. Graffiti are meant here as a form of writing, sometimes mixed with figurative patterns, made on a surface not primarily designed for this purpose by means of an occasional tool, regardless of the technique used and beyond the writer’s dependency on an authority. In Italy, there are hundreds of monumental and natural sites preserving graffiti, most of which are still undeciphered or have been studied only marginally.

The Project, therefore, represents the first attempt to survey and investigate this immensely rich body of sources through the lens of Palaeography, with the overall goal to assert the full dignity of graffiti as written sources and integrate them into the realm of historiographical thought and practice. New in this Project is the idea of considering graffiti as but one part of their cultural context, and consequently as an essential component of the communication system of their time. Graffiti allow us to get access to the worldview of individuals in the past. This explains why the Graff-IT Project wants to examine graffiti in their multifaceted complexity (writing, image, language, and material aspects) and in relation to all kinds of written media within specific space-time and social-production frames. By doing so, it will be possible to shed more light on the nature and role of graffiti in medieval and early modern culture, thereby bringing into the focus of scholarly research a history of signs that claims its due place in the yet far too strict classification of historical sources.

This Project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 101020613).

  ERC-2015-StG 677199 – PREWArAs "The Dark Side of the Belle Époque. Political violence and Armed Associations in Europe before the First World War" - Prof. Matteo Millan [CLOSED]

 

CUP C93C23004340006

Principal Investigator Prof. Matteo Millan

Project duration 01/10/2016 – 30/09/2022

Abstract:

This research project is a comparative historical study which examines the role of militias, paramilitary movements, armed organisations, and vigilante groups before the First World War (from the late 19th century to 1914). Its goal is to investigate how and to what extent organised political violence permeated European societies even before the outbreak of the Great War. The practice of organised violence represented a mass transnational experience in an era, the so-called Belle Époque, which is generally seen as characterised by peace and progress. Armed associations were male brotherhoods that experienced and perpetrated group violence. They also acted as agents of political mobilisation, shaping individual and collective identities. Despite their different origins and purposes, these groups shared repertoires of practices and political cultures in which violence was regarded as a fully legitimate course of action. The project will provide a comprehensive, multi-scale overview of armed organisations in pre-1914 Europe. Although they represent a mass phenomenon, no comparative research on them has been carried on so far. The project will fill this gap by establishing a team of scholars who focus on Germany, Italy, the Iberian Peninsula, France, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the United Kingdom. The project also promises to bring about a paradigm shift in our understanding of the Great War and post-war paramilitary movements. Hundreds of thousands of male Europeans engaged in various violent practices as members of these groups. These experiences shaped patterns which exerted a lasting influence on the political and social life of the whole continent. The mass experience of violence among pre-war armed associations should be taken into account not only to challenge the reassuring image of the Belle Époque, but also to understand to what extent the radicalisation of politics paved the way to the massacres of the Great War and the turmoil of its aftermath.

This project was financed by the European Research Council (ERC) in the framework of the EU H2020 program for research and innovation (N. Grant Agreement 677199)

 

  H2020-MSCA-IF-2020 101033258 - AMBIRE "AMbitious Bids: Investigating Roman Elections (78-46 BC)" – Dott.ssa Eleonora Zampieri – Supervisor Prof. Luca Fezzi [CLOSED]

CUP C95F21006550006

Fellow Dott.ssa Eleonora Zampieri

Supervisor Prof. Luca Fezzi
Project duration 01/10/2021 – 30/09/2024

Abstract:

AMBIRE wants to investigate the reasons whereby Roman magistrates in Rome between 78 and 46 BC won the elections; that is, what made them successful candidates in a period of political crisis. This problematic is strictly connected to other fundamental questions in modern scholarly debate, about the actual political power of the Roman people, the existence of political programmes, or the nature of the crisis of the Republic. The modern discussion was ignited in the 1980s from a radical critique to the old conception of the Roman state as being a closed oligarchy, prompting a revision of many still unquestioned aspects of Roman political life. However, new research has focused more on processes, rather than persons. AMBIRE wants to address this gap by focusing on individuals, and integrating historical analysis with perspectives drawn from political psychology. This has a great potential for new, more complex and multifaceted perspectives on the field, and for establishing a new field of enquiry. Thus, the results of this 3-years project, disseminated through academic publications and seminars, will greatly contribute to the aforementioned debate. The mutual exchange of knowledge between my host department (especially my supervisor, an expert in the field) and me, and the collaboration with the department of Psychology at my host institution will be instrumental towards this aim. This project can also provide useful insights into modernity – studying the reasons for the success of different types of propaganda and political campaigns in a moment of crisis is very relevant to modern societal and political challenges. Thus the action includes initiatives to reach out to young people and the general public, through visits to schools, an educational video and public events.

This project was financed by the “European Research Executive Agency (REA)” in the framework of the EU Horizon 2020 programme (N. Grant Agreement 101033258)

  WatHer – Interreg Euro-MED 05

Euro-MED0501651 - Water Heritage in European Rural Mediterranean. Re(dis)covering water heritage systems to face climate challenges learning from our past - WatHer
CUP C93C25004720007
Lead partner Politecnico di Milano (PI Dr. Arch. Paola Nella Branduini)
PI for Unipd Prof. Mauro Varotto
Project duration 1/09/2025 – 31/05/2029
Website: https://wather.interreg-euro-med.eu/

Abstract:

WatHer revives centuries-old water heritage systems (WHS) as a modern solution to drought in rural Mediterranean areas. The project restores traditional canals, ponds, and irrigation ditches—long neglected but proven to capture and store water sustainably. In selected pilot sites, WHS are mapped, restored, and monitored using a mix of field knowledge and modern tools such as Geographic Information System (GIS) and environmental sensors. Action plans are co-designed with local communities, blending ancestral techniques with today’s ecological standards. To ensure uptake, the project delivers training guidelines, engages local actors through seminars and consultations, and builds a joint strategy for WHS reuse. Through transnational cooperation – within the Global Network of Water Museums – these methods will be carried across borders, turning field-tested heritage into a shared Mediterranean resource.

The lead partner of the project is Politecnico di Milano – Department of Architecture, Built environment and Construction engineering (IT), and the project partners are University of Padova (IT), University of Granada (ES), University of Algarve (PT), IN LOCO Association (PT), OTRA – Island Development Agency Ltd (HR), BSC – Business support centre Ltd., Kranj (SI), Cyprus University of Technology (CY), Laona Foundation for the Conservation and Regeneration of the Cypriot Countryside (CY), Selenica Municipality (AL), Chambre d’agriculture des Bouches-du-Rhône (FR) and Terres en villes (FR).

  So.Ge.Agr. - SRG01 DGR 1597/2023

So.Ge.Agr. (Soluzioni di genere per l’Agricoltura) – Proposal ID 5836729
Call Complemento regionale per lo sviluppo rurale del Piano Strategico Nazionale della PAC 2023-2027 per il Veneto - Intervento SRG01 - Sostegno Gruppi Operativi PEI-AGRI

CUP B59H25000040009
Coordinator Azienda Agricola Franceschin Paola

Associated PI Prof. Elisabetta Novello
Project duration 14/03/2025 – 13/03/2028

Abstract:
The expected outcomes of So.Ge.Agr. are:

- increase and improve the participation of women in agricultural enterprises;

- propose an innovative organizational and management model that takes into account the value of the tangible and intangible heritage of farms and the value of the historical-cultural-landscape context in which they operate;

- overcome limitations due to unfamiliarity with digital services, identifying the most suitable technological innovations to increase farm income and enhance the social role of farm activities;

- revitalize rural territories with low settlement density, fostering new forms of entrepreneurship and social inclusion.

The G.O., made up of companies, local associations, research and consulting organizations, will implement a system of actions that will provide users with opportunities for economic and cultural growth. The added value will be to have an innovative model for the enhancement of the tangible and intangible heritage of the rural world in a perspective that aims at the rediscovery of acquired know-how, while taking into account both the potential offered by contemporaneity (globalization, innovation) and future needs (sustainability). The final results will show how investment in technological and ingenious solutions (cultural, educational, social, inclusive, touristic, dissemination) can yield excellent results in terms of economic performance and social welfare (OECD).