Writing on the Margins. Graffity in Italy and beyond (7th – 16th c.), First International Conference of the ERC-2020-AdG Graff-IT project, Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome (KNIR), Rome, 10-12 April 2024.

The first international conference of the ERC-2020-AdG Graff-IT Project aims at bringing together scholars from all over Europe who are concerned with the study of medieval and Renaissance graffiti as a historical source. “Graffiti” and “margins” are the two key, interrelated concepts which this conference wants to further explore from a European and multidisciplinary
perspective, with papers embracing a broad chronological timeline that begins in the early Middle Ages and extends to include the early modern period (7th-16th c.). Taken together, these two key-concepts explain the importance of graffiti as a historical source capable of providing first-hand evidence of a wide variety of aspects of past societies, and therefore, worthy of being studied in its own right, alongside the conventional ones. The conference, thus, seeks to provide an interdisciplinary forum for scholars who are willing to discuss several topics related to graffiti from continental and insular Europe, thereby contributing to an in-depth and better assessment of the
material evidence uncovered from surveys within the Italian peninsula.

Programme

9 April
15:30/17.30 – Reception participants and introductory remarks (Rome, KNIR)
20:00 – Dinner

10 April
9:15/10:00 – Welcome and opening remarks
10:00/10:30 – Carlo Tedeschi (“G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara), Keynote lecture
10:30/11:00 – Véronique Plesch (Colby College, USA), Graffiti on frescoes: typology, models, metaphors, and critical frameworks
11:00/11:15 – Coffee break
11:15/11:45 – Estelle Ingrand-Varenne (CNRS Poitiers) – Clément Dussart (University of Poitiers), On the margins of graffiti: writings ‘fixed’ to pilgrimage sites in the Holy Land
11:45/12:15 – Khachik A. Harutyunyan (Scientific Research Center of the Historical and Cultural Heritage, Matenadaran), The Armenian graffiti of the church of Holy Sepulcher
12:15/12:45 – Adam Łajtar (University of Warsaw), Wall graffiti in Christian Nubia. Discussant: Oliva Menozzi (“G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara)
13:00/14:30 – Lunch break
14:45/15:15 – Wendy Scase (University of Birmingham), From pillar to page: medieval graffiti in British churches and manuscript marginalia
15:15/15:45 – Laura Pani (University of Udine), Memorial graffiti and Libri vitae: an intersection?
15:45/16:15 – Elisa Pallottini (“G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara), Nominal graffiti and liturgical objects. Some case studies from the medieval
Latin West. Discussant: Nicoletta Giovè (University of Padua)
16:15/16:45 – Final discussion

11 April
9:45/10:00 – Poster 3: Roberto Rotondo (Soprintendenza nazionale per il patrimonio culturale subacqueo – Taranto), Cristina Comasia Ancona (Independent researcher), «Caverna(e) solertes inquisitores». A scratched testimony of a speleological exploration in the 16th c. in Martina Franca (Taranto)
10:00/10:30 – Discussion on posters 1-3. Discussants: Pier Paolo Trevisi (University for Foreigners of Perugia) and Martina Cameli, Antonello Vilella (“G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara)
10:30/10:45 – Coffee break
10:45/11:00 – Poster 4: Desi Marangon (Independent researcher), The graffiti of the Arsenale in Venice: a preliminary survey (17th c.)
11:00/11:15 – Poster 5: Flavia Tudini (Fondazione Bruno Kessler – Trento), Prisons’ graffiti. Justice, society and images in the Trentino prison system in
the modern age (16th-19th c.)
11:15/11:30 – Poster 6: Rocco D’Errico (“G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara), Diagnostic imaging applied to the study of graffiti: photogrammetry,
RTI, high-resolution photos, multispectral photography, virtual tours
11:30/12:00 – Discussion on posters 4-6. Discussants: Simone Allegria – Sabrina Centonze (“G. d’Annunzio”
University of Chieti-Pescara), Antonella Undiemi (University of Padua)
12:30/14:00 – Lunch break
14:15/18:00 – Excursion with the guide of Marco Albertoni, Vittoria Sichetti, Carlo Tedeschi (“G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara)

12 April
9:00/9:15 – Opening of the works
9:15/9:45 – Kristel Zilmer (University of Oslo), Runic graffiti and inscriptional spaces in medieval Norway
9:45/10:15 – Jos Schaeken (Leiden University), The place of graffiti in the graphic environment of Kyivan Rus
10:15 /10:30 – Coffee break
10:30/11:00 – Béatrice Fraenkel (EHESS, Paris), How did Petrucci manage (or not) to integrate graffiti into La Scrittura...? Discussant: Antonella Ghignoli (Sapienza University of Rome)
11:00/11:45 – Final discussion with the participation of Francesca Malagnini (University for Foreigners of Perugia), Gaetano Curzi, Mario Marrocchi
(“G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara)
11:45/12:30 – Marco Mostert (Utrecht University), Closing lecture
12:30/13:30 – Lunch break
13:30/14:30 – Closing remarks and end of the works

Scientific Committee:
Carlo Tedeschi (“G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara), Nicoletta Giovè (University of Padua),
Francesca Malagnini (University for Foreigners of Perugia), Marco Mostert (Utrecht University)

Promoting Committee:
Carlo Tedeschi (“G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara), Simone Allegria (“G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara), Elisa Pallottini (“G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara), Maria Bonaria Urban (Royal Netherlands Institute [KNIR])

Technical Secretary:
Studio Eventi & Congressi (segreteria@eventiecongressi.it)