National Research Projects
The professors of the Department of Humanities collaborate, in the context of national research projects, with other departments of the UPO and with numerous Italian universities, institutes and bodies, in multiple research fields (for example archaeology, teaching, political philosophy, linguistics, literature, pedagogy, history, theatre).
Below are listed, in alphabetical order (by surname of the contact person or participant DISUM teacher), the projects which are currently active.
ITALIAN MOUNTAIN LAB– Research and innovation for the environment and mountain areas
Cesare Emanuel (UPO coordinator)
UPO participants: Raffaella Afferni, Davide Porporato, Edoardo Tortarolo, Roberto Barbato, Maria Cavaletto, Guido Lingua, Antonella Capriello, Stefania Cerutti, Carla Ferrario, Gianfranco Spinelli, Marcello Tadini.
Other participating universities and organisations: Università della Montagna (UNIMONT), Centro d’Eccellenza decentrato a Edolo dell’Università degli Studi di Milano, Università degli Studi della Tuscia.
Funding body: MIUR under FISR - Special supplementary fund for research as per resolution of the Interministerial Committee for Economic Planning
The project aims to promote the establishment of a higher education and research laboratory to protect the Italian mountains, based on the capitalization and strengthening of existing experiences, as well as on the promotion of collaboration at national and international level for the expansion of activities. research, experimentation, technology transfer, training and support to local institutions for the development and enhancement of mountain areas. The main objective is to establish a multidisciplinary and intersectorial academic platform for the Italian mountains capable of pooling skills and experiences present on the national territory.
Mountains; socio-economic development; tourism; education; intersectorial platform
start: 08/03/2017; end: 30/6/2021
website: https://www.uniupo.it/alta-formazione-aziende-lavoro/alta-formazione/italian-mountain-lab
Cesare Emanuel: cesare.emanuel@uniupo.it
San Genuario: a monastery and its territory
Eleonora Destefanis (coordinator DISUM-UPO)
Other participating universities and organisations: Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio per le Province di Biella Novara Verbano Cusio Ossola e Vercelli, Comune di Crescentino, Parrocchia dei SS. Genuario e Silvestro di Crescentino.
The project focuses on the study of the Lombard foundation monastery of San Michele, then San Genuario and Bononio di Crescentino. The study, with a broadly interdisciplinary approach, aims at the overall historical reconstruction of the site, through written, cartographic and material sources. The monastic complex is investigated through the existing documentation and its still existing material structures, possibly with an integration of archaeological investigation aimed at the knowledge of any buried presences. Likewise, the survey will extend to the territory in which the monastery is located, to understand the dynamics of interaction of the monastic body with the reference area, in a long-term perspective.
ERC: SH5_6; SH5_7; SH5_8; SH6_3; SH6_6
San Genuario di Crescentino; monasteries; territory; Dark Ages; archaeology
Start: January 2021
Eleonora Destefanis: eleonora.destefanis@uniupo.it
Santa Eufemia di Tortona
Eleonora Destefanis (coordinator DISUM-UPO)
Other participating universities and organisations: Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio per le Province di Alessandria Asti e Cuneo, Provincia di Alessandria dell’Ordine dei Frati Minori Cappuccini.
The project focuses on the study of the female, urban monastery of Santa Eufemia di Tortona. The study, with a broadly interdisciplinary approach, aims at the overall historical reconstruction of the site, through written, cartographic and material sources. The monastic complex is investigated through the existing documentation and its still existing material structures, possibly with an integration of archaeological investigation aimed at the knowledge of any buried presences. The study is part of the context of urban female monasticism, which during the Middle Ages assumed a significant role, still little investigated for the Piedmont area.
ERC: SH5_6; SH5_7; SH5_8; SH6_3; SH6_6
Tortona; female monasteries; city; Dark Ages; archaeology
Start: December 2020
Eleonora Destefanis: eleonora.destefanis@uniupo.it
Pavia. The Imperial monasteries. Excavations and investigations
Saverio Lomartire (coordinator DISUM-UPO)
Other participants Maria Teresa Mazzilli (Comitato Pavia Città di Sant’Agostino), Chiara Pagani (Redazione Cultura del “Corriere della Sera”), Gianfranco Valle.
Other participating universities and organisations: Associazione Italia Fenice, Regione Lombardia, Comitato Pavia Città di Sant’Agostino, Piccolo Chiostro San Mauro, Associazione ‘Il bel San Michele’.
Funding body: Associazione Italia Fenice; Regione Lombardia.
The project intends to continue a series of investigations in important buildings in Pavia: San Michele Maggiore, San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro already carried out as part of the previous 2017/2018 project. In the present phase, archaeological excavations have been started in some delimited areas of the three buildings. The investigations, together with the radastratigraphic surveys already carried out, have brought to light some significant elements that will lead between 2021 and 2022 to extensive excavations and investigations on the architectural structures.
ERC: SH5_6; SH6_3; SH6_6
Pavia; Longobardi; San Salvatore; San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro; San Michele
Start: October 2018; end October 2022
Project website: https://www.monasteriimperialipavia.it/
Project email address: info@monasteriimperialipavia.it
Saverio Lomartire: saverio.lomartire@uniupo.it
ArchiDATA. Archive of lexical dating
Ludovica Maconi (coordinator DISUM-UPO)
Other participants: Claudio Marazzini e Vittorio Coletti (Accademia della Crusca), Michele Cortelazzo (Università degli Studi di Padova), Paolo D’Achille (Università degli Studi Roma Tre).
Other partipating entities: Zanichelli Editore.
Funding body: Accademia della Crusca.
ArchiDATA, Electronic Archive of (retro) lexical dating, is a site dedicated to updating the dates of the first appearance of words in the Italian vocabulary, with particular attention to the modern lexicon and the technical-scientific lexicon. As is well known, the datings provided by the etymological repertories of reference and by GRADIT are in need of revision, to be carried out mainly by means of computer tools (electronic corpora, digital libraries and programs intended for the study of the lexicon). The ArchiDATA editors therefore intend to collect these updates. Under the control of the Accademia della Crusca, ArchiDATA also aims to take on the role of a collection centre for the many contributions on backdating that come out in disparate locations, with the inevitable dispersion of results that would instead be preferable in a single location; always accessible, updatable, reorderable and expandable.
ERC: SH5; SH5_8
Italian lexicography and lexicology; lexical dating and backdating; story of words; electronic corpora and databases
Start: June 2017
website: www.archidata.info
Ludovica Maconi: ludovica.maconi@uniupo.it
Digital Edition of Fragmentary Ancient Greek Tragedy (DEFrAG-Tragedy)
Maria Napoli (coordinator DISUM-UPO)
DISUM-UPO contact and participant: Nadia Rosso
Other participating universities: Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Università degli Studi di Trento, Università degli Studi di Trieste.
The project, based on an inter-university cooperation agreement, aims to organise research and training activities related to the use of digital tools for the study and teaching of Greek theatre. DEFrAG-Tragedy aims at the establishment of a paradigm and a protocol for the digital critical edition of the tragic fragments, starting from the analysis of a list of Euripidean dramas chosen in an exemplary way. It is, in detail, a natively digital edition including introduction, critical text, translation and commentary: to this day, a goal for the study of lost tragedies, partially commented according to unrelated editorial criteria.
ERC: ERC SH5_1
Digital critical edition; fragments; translation; apparatus
start: 1/12/2020; end: 1/12/2025
Nadia Rosso: nadia.rosso@uniupo.it
Maria Napoli: maria.napoli@uniupo.it
Musei e Scenari Linguistico-culturali dell’Interazione orale (MueSLI)
Miriam Ravetto (DISUM-UPO participant)
Other participating universities: Università degli Studi di Bergamo, Università degli Studi di Torino, Università degli Studi di Bologna, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Università degli Studi di Trieste, Università degli Studi di Macerata.
The inter-university research project is aimed at analysing orality in museum communication from a linguistic-cultural perspective. More precisely, the scientific referents aim to study in detail the complex dynamics, interactional structures, verbal and non-verbal strategies and procedures that characterise the communicative practices in the museum environment. Particular attention is paid to the following aspects:
1. analysis and comparison of communication practices and strategies in different genres, also considering forms of communication that present traits on the border between orality and writing (e.g., audio guides) and examining the role of multimodality
2. analysis and comparison of the different communication strategies and practices according to the recipient (e.g., museum visits for adults, children, etc.) and according to the content transmitted (communication in archaeological museums, art museums, science museums, etc)
3. inter-linguistic comparison between forms of communication in German and in Italian. The project will include extending the analysis to other languages as well.
The project also aims to strengthen links with museums in the area, encouraging a fruitful sharing of skills and experiences between researchers and museum operators.ERC: SH4_7; SH4
Orality; museum communication; conversational analysis; communicative genres
start: June 2020; end: June 2025
Miriam Ravetto: miriam.ravetto@uniupo.it
In the classroom and on site: manuals and Erasmus stays in the teaching of the German language. Motivational investigations
Miriam Ravetto (DISUM-UPO coordinator)
Participant: Donatella Mazza (University of Pavia).
The research project is divided into two distinct surveys that focus on essential tools of language teaching - specifically the German language - such as manuals on the one hand and Erasmus stays on the other, to evaluate their motivational impact in the process of learning. In particular: "In the classroom": this is a survey of the manuals adopted and teaching materials used in different Italian universities for teaching the German language (bibliographic collection, theoretical analysis and empirical research in the field through questionnaires and interviews with colleagues);
- "on site": it is proposed to study in detail (both from a quantitative and qualitative point of view) the reasons that push students of the two universities to apply for an Erasmus stay in a German-speaking country and, in particular, the expectations that accompany presentation of the application and the concrete (linguistic and cultural) advantages deriving from this experience. The survey will be conducted by administering questionnaires before and after departure, as well as monitoring the language level before departure, subsequent language progress and the acquired cultural attitude.
ERC: SH4_9
Teaching L2; learning L2; L2 motivational self-system
Start: June 2020; end: June 2025
Donatella Mazza: donatella.mazza@unipv.it
Miriam Ravetto: miriam.ravetto@uniupo.it
Last modified 11 August 2022