Foto del docente

Maria Cristina Carile

Associate Professor

Department of Cultural Heritage

Academic discipline: L-ART/01 History of Medieval Art

Director of Second Cycle Degree in History, preservation and enhancement of artistic and archaeological heritage and landscape

Curriculum vitae

Maria Cristina Carile is a Byzantinist with specialization in art history and archaeology. From November 2018 she holds the position of Associate Professor of History of Byzantine Art (L-ART/01 History of Medieval Art) at the Department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Bologna. Her methodology is characterized by the joined study of material and visual sources and texts. At the moment her research is dedicated to artistic culture and the circulation of visual communication codes in Late Antique and Byzantine Mediterranean, and particularly in the Adriatic and Aegean Sea. She has presented her research at national and international conferences, scientific lectures and seminars (UK, France, Serbia, Turkey, Russia, Iran, USA).

 

Education

In 2002 she received her degree in Early Christian and Early Medieval Art and Architecture at the Faculty of Conservation of the Cultural Heritage of the University of Bologna. In 2007 she defended her doctoral thesis, The Vision of the Palace of the Byzantine Emperors as a Heavenly Jerusalem, written at the University of Bologna and in co-supervision with the University of Birmingham (supervisor: Prof. Leslie Brubaker).

 

Academic career

Since 2003 Carile has conducted her research working in international research centers specialized in late antique and Byzantine culture. Between 2005 and 2008 she was Honorary Research Fellowat the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham (UK), where she worked with the Director Leslie Brubaker. In 2006-2007 she was the recipient of aJunior Fellowshipat the RCAC_Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations, Koç University, Istanbul (TR). In 2009 she received an Onassis Fellowshipfrom the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, Athens. Between 2008 and 2015 she was enrolled as Research Fellow in the Department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Bologna, where she worked with Luigi Canetti and Alessandro Volpe. There, between 2015 and 2018 she held the position of Senior Assistant Professor (fixed-term) in L-ART/01 History of Medieval Art.

On July 2017 she received the "abilitazione scientifica nazionale" to the position of Associate Professor in L-ART/01 History of Medieval Art.

On May 2023 she received the "abilitazione scientifica nazionale" to the position of Full Professor in L-ART/01 History of Medieval Art.

 

Teaching Activity

Since 2013 she has been lecturer within the first cycle degree/bachelor in Cultural Heritage (L1), the master's programs of History and Conservation of the Works of Art (LM89), History, Preservation and Enhancement of Artistic and Archaeological Heritage and Landscape (LM89&LM2), and the single cycle degree programme (LMCU) in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage of the University of Bologna (seat of Ravenna). She organizes seminars and workshops related to her courses and is a member of the lab of History of Imagery with her colleagues Luigi Canetti, Sebastiana Nobili, Andrea Piras and Alessandro Volpe; the lab of Byzantine Studies Mese with Salvatore Cosentino and Giorgio Vespignani; several other labs of the Study Centre on the Work of Art of the Department of Cultural Heritage.

 

Scientific Activity

She first focused her research on single architectural elements in Late Antiquity and Byzantium; imperial architecture and architectural representation; then to objects or iconographies as communication means in their context. Lately she has studied the imperial image, working on the concept of iconicity and on ceremonial dress within Byzantine visual culture. Believing in the validity of the direct (so to say “material”) approach for a correct comprehension of the art-historical and historical context, since 2000 she has taken part in several archaeological projects in Turkey (Istanbul and Central Anatolia), Greece (Thessaloniki), Albania (Mesopotam, Saranda) and Italy (Ravenna, Classe, Rome), with Koç University (Istanbul, TR), Princeton University (USA), UNESCO, the University Ca' Foscari of Venice, the Politecnico of Milan and the University of Bologna (Italy) working in excavations, surveys, archaeological parks and restoration projects. At Ravenna and Thessaloniki, she has conducted personal projects under the auspices of the local administrations and institutions working at the conservation of the cultural heritage. Her research in situ involves architectural sculpture, stones, mosaics, and marble revetment.

From May 2017 she has collaborated with Porphyra. International Academic Journal of Byzantine Studies as a blind referee. She has also worked as a referee for RIHA Journal(International Association of Research Institutes in the History of Art) of the Bibliotheca Hertziana, the academic journals Bizantinistica and Religions, and several publishing houses. From 2019 she is in the board of the Società di Studi Ravennati.

From 2023 she is associate member of the Sapienza Centre for the Study of the Mediterranean and Near East in Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages.

Institutional activity

She carries out her institutional activity working primarily at the Department of Cultural Heritage, where she is in charge of the Research Board and a member of the departmental board, the so-called “Third Mission” Board, and the Cultural Activities Board.

From 2019 she has been a member of the University Research Evaluation Committee (VRA) - Area 10.

From 2019 she has been in the academic board of the PhD in Cultural and Environmental Heritage of the University of Bologna.

From 2020 she has been evaluator within the EU Research and Innovation programme HORIZON 2020.

From 1 November 2020 she has coordinated the second cycle degree of History, preservation and enhancement of artistic and archaeological heritage and landscape. 

 

Scientific and editorial boards

Since 2017 she has been a member of the scientific board of the series Byzantina Lupiensia (CISAM.Centro Italiano di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo) and, from 2019, of the editorial board of the scientific journal Ravenna Studi e Ricerche.

 

Awards

In 2012 she received the ICMA- Samuel H. Kress Research andTravel Award from the International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA, New York).

In 2017 she benefitted from the “Fondo di Finanziamento alle Attività di Base della Ricerca” (FFABR2017).

 

Other activities

In 2017 she was designated by the Province of Ravenna as a member of the board of the Flaminia Foundation.

From 2019 she has been the head of the Society of Ravenna Studies.