UNIPI contributes to current societal debates by revealing how comparable processes occurred in the past, as well as how that past has served to shape the present, and how to engage communities and inspire the future. Knowledge about cultures, power relations, heritage, languages and communications plays a key role for society’s ability to deal with complex future issues. In this area, UNIPI research includes two main streams:
CULTURE AND CULTURAL HERITAGE - archeology, preservation of cultural heritage, studies on human past, languages, literatures and civilizations, coupled with new technologies and chemistry applied to heritage science
Egyptology, Egyptian Archaeology, Culture and Materials of ancient Egypt
Art History and Material Analysis, Analytical chemistry for the conservation of Cultural Heritage, characterisation of organic materials collected from archaeological objects and artworks;
Archeology, Philology and Anthropology of the ancient world, Archaeology of social dynamics, new technologies applied to archeology;
Digital Humanities and Computational Linguistics, natural language semantics, psycholinguistic and traditional linguistic methods.
HISTORY, POLITICS AND POLICIES - exercise of power across the time, modern and contemporary history, history of ideas, political theory, philosophy, economy and sociology
Political participation and Social movements, institutional change and institutional design, dimensions and forms of political representation, populism and protest trends;
Anti-corruption policies politicisation of corruption, integrity and transparency measures in the public administration;
Resilience and changes in Euro-Mediterranean Area social, economic and cultural growth in the Ancient World, The Making of Middle Age, analysis of conceptual transformations in Modernity, communication and propaganda in the Contemporary Era;
Italian studies, Italian Literature, Linguistics and Philology, including medieval and humanistic Latin and comparative studies.
Flagship projects
Funding programme: H2020 - ERC Advanced Grant
Our knowledge about Greek philosophical schools is mostly second-hand and based on Diogenes Laërtius’ 'Lives of Eminent Philosophers' (3rd century AD) and Philodemus of Gadara’s 'Arrangement of the Philosophers' (75-50 BC) – hereinafter 'Syntaxis' –, an extensive treatise in several books which represents the earliest ‘history of philosophy’ to have reached us directly from antiquity. By relying on the most advanced technologies available today, the project aims to provide a new innovative critical edition of the whole treatise and its different sections, with extensive introductions and commentaries.
Funding programme: PRIN 2017
Hypermedia Dante Network aims to refine and extend the ontology and tools developed to represent the sources of Dante Alighieri's minor works by establishing a collaborative environment with due attention paid to issues of language, style and intertextuality. Relying on some of the most important scientific institutions for Dante studies, HDN makes use of specialized skills, essential for the population of ontology and the consequent creation of a complete and reliable knowledge base. Knowledge that will be published on the Web as Linked Open Data.