NRRP intervention area: Mission 4 – Education and Research
Component: 2 - From research to business
Investment: 1.3 - Extended partnerships with universities, research centres, businesses and research project funding
Duration: 39 months, ending on 28/02/2026
Total project funding: €9,490,534.92
Proposer: Università di Roma La Sapienza
How can we contribute to supporting Italy's cultural heritage?
The specific objectives of the project are:
- to increase the attractiveness of our country's cultural heritage, to promote new sustainable approaches to tangible and intangible cultural heritage in Italy
- to implement a public-private model of cooperation and stable partnerships between research and business, and to promote new forms of professional employment in the cultural heritage sector
- to provide a centre of attention for companies, public and private institutions such as museums, foundations, cultural networks and associations that work in the main areas relevant to cultural heritage.
Project structure and participation
Foundation Composition
Universities and research institutes
- Università di Roma La Sapienza
- Alma Mater Università di Bologna
- Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa
- Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia
- Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro"
- Università degli Studi di Bergamo
- Università degli Studi di Catania
- Università degli Studi di Firenze
- Università degli Studi di Milano
- Università degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II"
- Università degli Studi di Torino
- Università degli Studi Roma Tre
- Università degli Studi Suor Orsola Benincasa
- Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - CNR (National Research Council)
- Gran Sasso Science Institute - GSSI
- Istituto Centrale per il Restauro - ICR (Central Institute for Restoration)
- Opificio delle Pietre Dure - OPD
Private actors
- Associazione Centro di Eccellenza DTC Lazio
- Fondazione 1563 per l’Arte e la Cultura della Compagnia di San Paolo
- Fondazione Sicilia
- Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana fondata da Giovanni Treccani S.p.A.
- Engineering Ingegneria Informatica S.p.A
- EDIL CO. S.r.l.
- Società Cooperativa Culture
Areas of action
-
Spoke 1 – Historical Landscapes, Traditions and Cultural Identities (leader: Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro")
- Spoke 2 – Creativity and Intangible Cultural Heritage (leader: Università degli Studi di Milano)
- Spoke 3 – Digital Libraries, Archives and Philology (leader: Università degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II")
- Spoke 4 – Virtual Technologies for Museums and Art Collections (leader: Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna)
- Spoke 5 – Science and Technologies for Sustainable Diagnostics of Cultural Heritage (leader: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - CNR (National Research Council)
- Spoke 6 – History, Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage (leader: Università degli Studi di Catania)
- Spoke 7 – Protection and Conservation of Cultural Heritage against Climate Changes, Natural and Anthropic Risks (leader: Università degli Studi di Firenze)
- Spoke 8 – Sustainability and Resilience of Tangible Cultural Heritage (leader: Università di Roma La Sapienza)
- Spoke 9 – Cultural Resources for Sustainable Tourism (leader: Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia)
The University of Bologna participates in spoke 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and coordinates spoke 4.
Project team
University of Bologna participants
Scientific coordinator
Professor Giuliana Benvenuti
Teaching and Research Staff
- Fabrizio Ivan Apollonio
- Isabella Baldini
- Roberto Balzani
- Luca Barra
- Maria Giovanna Belcastro
- Daniele Benati
- Stefano Benazzi
- Giuliana Benvenuti
- Andrea Borsari
- Cristina Casero
- Cristina Chiavari
- Davide Domenici
- Enrico Giorgi
- Nicola Grandi
- Irene Graziani
- Alessandro Iannucci
- Alessandro Ippoliti
- Paola Maria Carmela Italia
- Giovanni Leoni
- Danila Longo
- Giacomo Manzoli
- Matteo Martelli
- Maria Pia Morigi
- Federica Ottoni
- Silvio Peroni
- Silvia Prati
- Fiammetta Sabba
- Paola Scrolavezza
- Ursula Thun Hohenstein
- Mariangela Vandini
Staff hired with project funds
Researchers
- Davide Bagnaresi
- Silvia Ballarè
- Marcello Calogero
- Francesca D'Angelo
- Sara Fiorentino
- Ivan Heibi
- Giulia Marsili
- Elena Musiani
- Margherita Elena Pomero
- Chiara Scardozzi
- Rita Sorrentino
- Filippo Triola
Research fellows
- Sebastian Barzaghi
- Giovanni Bellucci
- Ilaria Cattabriga
- Francesco Di Maio
- Lucrezia Gatti
- Ilenia Falbo
- Chiara Manca
- Claudia Nigrelli
- Giacomo Sigismondo
PhD students
- Nayyab Amjad
- Sebastian Barzaghi
- Sara Bernardini
- Maria Francesca Bocchi
- Alice Bordignon
- Simona Colitti
- Francesca Fabbri
- Elena Girelli
- Martina Grinello
- Federica Lecci
- Ramona Loffredo
- Stefano Magri
- Caterina Manco
- Arianna Moretti
- Giulia Renda
- Ludovica Soreca
- Riccardo Stracuzzi
- Mattia Sullini
Departments involved
- Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences - BiGeA
- Department of Chemistry "Giacomo Ciamician" - CHIM
- Department of Architecture - DA
- Department of the Arts - DAR
- Department of Cultural Heritage - DBC
- Department of Physics and Astronomy "Augusto Righi" - DIFA
- Department of History and Cultures - DiSCi
- Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies - FICLIT
- Department of Philosophy - FILO
- Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures - LILEC
With this project, the University of Bologna has:
- carried out a pilot project to digitise the exhibition dedicated to Ulisse Aldrovandi: a digital replica of the exhibition was created in order to make it accessible to online users. Various image acquisition, processing, modelling and optimisation techniques were used, with hybrid use of specific acquisition techniques to create new digital objects and environments, using open technologies, formats and protocols to make the virtual exhibition accessible.
- the recovery and identification of an archive of 17,000 linguistic records compiled about 40 years ago for the publication of a dictionary of the Bolognese dialect, which was never published, has been completed. This archive will be digitised and made available to the scientific community, and a systematic survey of local associations and private radio stations is underway, which is likely to lead to the acquisition of audio archives.
What activities are in progress?
The research teams dedicated to the CHANGES project are conducting work on:
- the development of a digital archive containing the files of all Italian and foreign films distributed in Italy, from the post-war period to the present day, integrating some of the archives already existing in Cinematheques and completing and thoroughly updating them with a view to unifying metadata and search keys.
- the creation of a mobile instrument for the integrated diagnosis of tangible cultural heritage: this technology will be useful for the non-destructive reconstruction of the composition of a painting, for detecting the presence of biological degradation and for assessing the degree of degradation of materials.
- the participation of local institutions for the conservation and safety of cultural heritage. Ravenna has been identified as a pilot area on which to develop methodologies, also in the light of the recent floods.
