Progetto: Debunking Eurocentric Literary History: Poetry Across Borders in Medieval Sicily

Acronimo: SIQILLIYA

Tipologia ERC: ERC-2022-COG

Codice progetto: 101088698

Durata: 01/09/2023-31/08/2028

Responsabile scientifico: prof. Nicola Carpentieri

Abstract:
EN - Medieval Sicily occupies a crucial position in literary history: incorporating the three monotheistic traditions of Islam, Christianity and Judaism, it has a repertoire of texts in Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Romance. In the 13th century, Sicily was the protagonist in a pivotal event in world literature: the rise of the Italian lyric. This early Italian poetry was to influence Dante and Petrarch, as well as humanists and scholars throughout Europe until at least the 18th century.
No study to date has been capable of addressing the poetry of medieval Sicily as a whole. Literary studies on Sicily have been compartmentalised according to disciplinary boundaries: a compartmentalisation which has hampered our understanding of the foundational role that Sicily's multicultural past played in literary history.
The proposed project aims to address the complexities of medieval Sicilian literature by studying the totality of the court poetry produced in Sicily in Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Italian between the 10th and the 13th cc. The project thus promises to shed light on what amounts to a black hole in literary history: it will document over four centuries of cultural interactions, and allow us to fully assess the role of Sicily's many cultures in the rise of the Italian lyric.
Our team will collect all of the available evidence in an electronic corpus, to be published online under a Creative Commons licence, and then study it using the latest IT tools. Working across linguistic boundaries, our team will approach this poetic corpus as a whole, in order to reveal how the multiple linguistic traditions of medieval Sicily interacted with each other, shaping a unique "semiotic community" whose expressions were to contribute to the formation of Western culture.

Gruppo di ricerca: dott.ssa  Carrai Alessia, dott.ssa Facchini Bianca, dott. De Blasi Alessandro, dott. Corazzol Giacomo

Progetto: Republics on the Stage of Kings. Representing Republican State Power in the Europe of Absolute Monarchies (late 16th - early 18th century)

Acronimo: RISK

Tipologia ERC: ERC-2017-STG

Codice progetto: 758450

Durata: 01/04/2018-31/03/2024

Responsabile scientifico: prof. Alessandro Metlica

Abstract:
EN - RISK investigates Republican pageantry and encomiastic production from late 16th - to early 18th -century Europe, with regard to the Italian city-states that maintained their independence throughout this timeframe (Venice, Genoa, Lucca), the Republic of Ragusa (today in southernmost Croatia) and the Dutch Republic. A multidisciplinary corpus of sources is taken into account, including: praising texts celebrating Republican values; paintings and engravings displaying civic rituals, or portraying mythological prosopopoeias of the Republic; and written accounts of public ceremonies, such as the election of the Doge or the triumph performed after a victorious campaign.
RISK provides the first comprehensive overview of these Republican displays of state power in an era - the so-called Ancien Régime - that is generally perceived to have been marked by the rise of a unique political model, i.e. the absolute monarchy. By comparing the representation of kingship and the staging of the Republican state, RISK analyses to what extent the absolutist framework influences the display of ideals such as freedom, equality, and the common good. The goal is to comprehend how the rhetorical devices of Baroque culture extoll a power that does not apply to someone (the King), but rather to something (the Republic and Republican virtues).
RISK is expected to lead to a paradigm shift in our understanding of early modem cultural policy and propaganda. Indeed, Ancien Régime republicanism offers a reperto ire of images and concepts that embodies an alternative mode of thinking about the state. This legacy allows us to challenge the perceived idea of a Janus-faced early modem Europe, where a series of binary oppositions would supposedly herald the transition towards modem democracy (monarchy versus republic, absolutism versus Enlightenment, court versus public sphere ).
RISK undermines these juxtapositions, as it highlights the richness and the plurality of our cultural heritage.

Gruppo di ricerca: dott. Zucchi Enrico, dott. Florio Giovanni, dott. Oddens Joris, dott.ssa Moorman Gloria Andrea Maria, dott. Weststeijn Arthur, dott.ssa Di lasio Valeria, dott. Colopi Andrea, dott.ssa Gallucci Giorgia