Research Themes

Carries out research in the philological-literary field (translations of texts, exegesis and relative considerations on translation, literary memory and the fortune of the classics), in general linguistics (translational and etymological interests and with particular attention to minority languages and their inherent problems, also of socio-political character), and in archaeology (research in the composition, comprehension and historicising of the landscape and of antique settlement contexts, and the activities of stratigraphic excavation, reconstruction of the urban form, and surface prospecting).

Consists of an ample spectrum of research themes due to the variety of didactic sectors. The Unit conducts research in the field of the figurative arts (civil medieval architecture, Eighteenth Century painting, art and neuroscience, the history of art exhibition, CSAC archives, fashion and photography), in the field of musicology (Nineteenth Century melodrama, Giuseppe Verdi, Arturo Toscanini), in the field of theatre (orality, dance, medieval theatre, contemporary theatre and puppetry), in the field of cinematography (Italian cinema periodicals, cinema and neuroscience), in the field of the legislation of cultural heritage and the field of library and archival sciences. The Unit works in close collaboration with the CSAC and CAPAS University Centres.

Carries out research in formative processes and cultures, investigating them according to a theoretical and epistemological profile, historical development and the various declines of contemporary society. The thematic areas range from childhood to scholastic institutions and educational and formational services; from the local territory to global migrations and citizenship; from languages, codes and canons of the past to new media; from the organisation to the evaluation of the quality of services.

Carries out theoretical and historical research on the following themes: the connection between medieval and modern philosophy (Platonism, Aristotelianism, Cartesianism); Kant, Hegel and German Idealism (conscience, freedom, naturalism); phenomenology and perception (phenomenological psychology, empathy, inter-subjectivity, the persona); society, ethics and anthropology (social ontology, pragmatism and critical theory, neuroscience and society, political anthropology and individualism); aesthetics and art theory (aesthetic experience, philosophy and rhetoric styles, the aesthetics and poetics of landscape), logic, language and the mind (meaning and background, experience and knowledge, the analysis and logic of languages).

Is characterised by the study of texts through a variety of approaches, from the traditional ones to those characterised by critical contemporary debate. To the main body of texts taken from Italian Literature, there are contributions from Romance philology and literary critical theory; the close link with the history of language allows the expansion of focus to include also non-literary texts, sectorial and specialised languages of contemporaneity, and the didactics of modern languages (in particular Italian as L2 language).

Research in the Modern Languages Unit is carried out in both linguistic and literary fields. Amongst the more privileged themes, there is that of Romanticism: whose area, in fact, coordinates the University Centre CISR (Inter-university Centre for the Study of Romanticism). Other areas of collective research interest are that of exile and emigration literature, above all against the backdrop of twentieth century history, and women’s writing. Finally, a meeting point for both linguistic and literary interests, the theme of translation is one of the strongest features of our communal work and is faced on theoretical as well as historical and textual levels.

The Psychological and Social Studies Unit is characterised by the joining of the many perspectives oriented to the analysis of individual, relational, social and institutional processes within various contexts of the life of individuals and of groups, and in the light of the transformations of contemporary society.  Research themes in which converge the various disciplines of which it is composed, deal with forms of subjectivity and communication; the relationship between gender and generations, the dynamics of inclusion/exclusion; the processes of typical and atypical developments in the cycle of life; relationships in educational and care; the representation of self and the construction of identity; political processes and their theoretical elaboration; the ongoing changes in the ethnic and religious composition of the population and the inter-group and intercultural dynamics to which they are connected. Research is conducted through various quantitative and qualitative methodologies and with particular attention to the theoretical-epistemological aspects of research.

Conducts research in political, social, cultural and religious history, ranging from the classical age to the medieval, the modern and contemporary: the history of classic historiography, the economic-social history of the classical world, religion in the medieval world, political disputes in early medieval Italy, political-religious history in the Reformation and Counter-reformation periods, modern reception of classic historiography, the history of censorship, the history of welfare institutions, the political-religious history of contemporary Italy, with particular reference the 1900s and the teaching of history. Also present is research in the history of territories and the historical-environmental heritage from a geo-cartographic point of view.