The aim of the Degree Programme is, aboveall, to provide sound basic training in the preservation, documentation,management and enhancement of cultural heritage. Cultural heritage understoodas the tangible and intangible sedimentation of the historical development ofhuman civilisation (and as a basis for its further development) is of specialimportance in a country such as Italy. Its study implies learning in a widerange of different subject areas. The mandatory basic disciplines in thethree-year programme are aimed at contextualising and understanding thecultural value of heritage correctly, referring to different fields ofknowledge: historical and philological, legal and economical, geographical andanthropological, technical and scientific. This is the basis for thedisciplines more specifically related to the four areas of cultural heritage,which are identified in the course structure diagram: archaeological,historical and artistic, musical, and library studies and archiving. Acharacteristic of the Cultural Heritage Degree Programme is the presence ofworkshops, which highlights the fact that the integration of a culturalapproach and of a more technical and methodological approach is a key element.
The number and availability of departmentallaboratories, accessible through attendance, is extensive and, in many cases,is extremely high at national level: they are complemented by excavationactivities and theoretical workshops and seminars. Finally, internships (andthe knowledge of basic computer science applied to cultural heritage) ensure atechnical knowledge that is required in today's job market. At the end of thecurriculum, achieved through the first cycle degree, graduates acquire theability to identify a specific cultural asset, to recognise its state ofpreservation and to roughly retrace its original context. Students aretherefore capable of planning and implementing actions aimed at safeguardingand enhancing it. They are capable of understanding the importance of thisheritage asset within the community, starting at a local level, and to do so,they are capable of focusing both on a historical level and on an analysis ofthe relationship between society and culture in the context in which theyoperate.
They are also capable of organising thedata in their possession to analyse the asset correctly, in terms of bothcataloguing and of a historical and critical descriptive analysis. They are capableof drawing up brief technical reports, brief reports on excavation and archivalactivities, and more articulated texts – intended for a wider audience – aimedat presenting, preserving and enhancing the value of the asset. They arefamiliar with the legal framework for cultural assets and are fluent in atleast one foreign language.
In the first year, the curriculum includestwo mandatory exams, Italian literature and history, along with one or twocourse units in the technical/scientific field; in the second year, mandatorysubjects are historical disciplines, classical language and/or culture studies,as well as historical/religious and cultural studies; finally, in the thirdyear, a mandatory geographical and/or anthropological exam and a legal/economicexam. In addition to the basic course units in each of the areas indicatedabove, in all three years students will attend courses aimed at building a moredefined profile both from the point of view of the four areas provided for inthe course structure diagram (archaeological, historical-artistic, musical andlibrary studies and archiving) and from the point of view of choosing whetheror not to continue the studies with a two year master. During this three-yeardegree, it is therefore possible to build a coherent programme from achronological point of view and in terms of the specific field of interest,flanked and integrated by technical, scientific and methodological knowledgeand enriched by practical training activities, such as excavation activities,workshops and internships.
