- Dipartimento di Studi umanistici e del Patrimonio culturale
Università degli Studi di Udine
vicolo Florio, 2b
33100 UDINE
ITALY
- I am Full Professor in Latin Palaeography at the University of, where I entered in 1994 as a lecturer. I have been th... moreI am Full Professor in Latin Palaeography at the University of, where I entered in 1994 as a lecturer. I have been the module coordinator for a range of modules on Palaeography, Codicology and Diplomatics for the ex Faculty of Humanities (Lettere e Filosofia), which is now divided into different Bachelor- and MA degree courses.
I am working on the history of latin handwriting in the Middle Ages, on manuscript traditions and on the edition of documentary sources.
My research activity has been focused for a long time on High Middle Ages: I have worked on the manuscript tradition of Paul the Deacon’s Historia Langobardorum and more generally I studied northern Italian carolingian manuscripts, with particular emphasis to north-eastern writing centers.
I was also involved in describing and cataloguing manuscripts.
More recently I have approached the Low Middle Ages, with regard to history of both handwriting and documents.
I regularly attended the meetings of the Permanent International Workshop on Cursive Handwriting established in 2006, and I have studied the writing of Cividale notaries in the XIIIth century and the methods of teaching and learning cursive handwriting in Italian schools during the XIXth and XXth centuries.
At the end of 2012 I discovered that the manuscript London, British Library, Harley 5383, a rather obscure XIVth century copy of Paul the Deacon’s Historia Langobardorum, is the missing part of the manuscript 627 + 2795(VI) in the Biblioteca Riccardiana in Florence, and is therefore entirely autograph by Giovanni Boccaccio. This discovery, also enhanced by the italian press, allowed me to work further on Boccaccio’s handwriting, books and library.
I am the Editor in Chief of 'Scrineum Rivista', President of the Associazione Italiana dei Paleografi e Diplomatisti and a member of the Commission Internationale de Diplomatique (CID), the Association Paléographique Internationale Écriture - Culture - Sociéte (APICES), the Associazione Italiana Manoscritti Datati (AIMD).edit
This paper aims to give an account of some of the manuscripts related to Lothar. In its first sec- tion an attempt is made at retracing a set of books that could have belonged to Lothar’s library, nowadays known only from secondary... more
This paper aims to give an account of some of the manuscripts related to Lothar. In its first sec- tion an attempt is made at retracing a set of books that could have belonged to Lothar’s library, nowadays known only from secondary sources. In the second section some display codices are discussed, either commissioned by Lothar, or dedicated to him, such as Lothar’s Gospel Book MS Par. lat. 266 or those traditionally referred to as the Lothar-Gruppe, whose actual connec- tion both to Lothar and to each other is questioned here. The third and last part of the paper contains some considerations on the manuscripts produced during the years of Lothar’s govern- ment in Italy, that essentially coincide with the second quarter of the ninth century.
Research Interests:
Il saggio prende in considerazione un aspetto finora inesplorato del celebre Evangeliario Forogiuliese (Cividale del Friuli, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Archivi e Biblioteca, CXXXVIII): la grafia delle note marginali del IX secolo con i... more
Il saggio prende in considerazione un aspetto finora inesplorato del celebre Evangeliario Forogiuliese (Cividale del Friuli, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Archivi e Biblioteca, CXXXVIII): la grafia delle note marginali del IX secolo con i nomi dei pellegrini che visitarono il luogo dove il codice era all'epoca conservato e utilizzato, oltre che come libro liturgico, come 'Liber vitae'. Si dimostra che, a parte limitate eccezioni, tali note furono apposte non dai pellegrini stessi ma dagli ecclesiastici della comunit\ue0 che custodiva il manoscritto; si evidenzia altres\uec come dal punto di vista paleografico esse costituiscano un finora non considerato esempio di utilizzo in area friulana della minuscola carolina, restituendone un'immagine sostanzialmente omogenea e unitaria
Research Interests:
This paper deals with a so far little explored source on the many Black Death epidemics of the Middle Ages: the colophons of manuscripts, where the scribe refers to the plague and its evolution and impact, or focuses on the place where he... more
This paper deals with a so far little explored source on the many Black Death epidemics of the Middle Ages: the colophons of manuscripts, where the scribe refers to the plague and its evolution and impact, or focuses on the place where he finished the copy trying to escape the contagion. Despite being still at its first stage, such a research is expected to throw new light not only on the contexts of book production, but also on the chronology of the medieval epidemics.
Research Interests:
This paper concerns the book production and dissemination in the Patriarchy of Aquileia in the 9th century, as reflected from the few surviving manuscripts, from the textual tradition of liturgical and theological works and from indirect... more
This paper concerns the book production and dissemination in the Patriarchy of Aquileia in the 9th century, as reflected from the few surviving manuscripts, from the textual tradition of liturgical and theological works and from indirect evidence as authors' sources and library inventories. Manuscripts of the second half of the 9th century that can be on textual grounds ascribed to Friuli display common palaeographical features, to which the influence of transalpine styles does not seem to be alien. Though bitty, the research results highlight strong relationships between Friuli and transalpine lands in the 9th century
Research Interests:
This paper deals with the recently discovered Boccaccio\u2019s autograph of Paul the Deacon\u2019s Historia Langobardorum, the manuscript LONDON, British Library, Harley 5383. Along with its membra disiecta FIRENZE, Biblioteca... more
This paper deals with the recently discovered Boccaccio\u2019s autograph of Paul the Deacon\u2019s Historia Langobardorum, the manuscript LONDON, British Library, Harley 5383. Along with its membra disiecta FIRENZE, Biblioteca Riccardiana, 627 and 2795VI, it forms a handbook of ancient, roman and mediaeval history (besides the Historia Langobardorum, Paul Orose\u2019s Historiae adversus paganos, Paul the Deacon\u2019s Historia Romana, books XIII-XVI, Pasquale Romano\u2019s brief epistle De origine civitatis Aretii) almost entirely copied by Boccaccio. After recalling the circumstances of its finding, the paper points out that text of Historia Langobardorum contained in Harley 5383 and in its membrum disiectum Riccard. 2795VI is abridged, more than the 20% of its chapters missing or being epitomized; whether Boccaccio was also the author of this version of Paul the Deacon\u2019s work or simply its scribe remains under discussion
Research Interests:
This paper investigates the activity of lay scribes of manuscripts in the High Middle Ages until the end of the eleventh century. After a survey of the scholarly literature on this topic and a review of the chances to identify lay scribes... more
This paper investigates the activity of lay scribes of manuscripts in the High Middle Ages until the end of the eleventh century. After a survey of the scholarly literature on this topic and a review of the chances to identify lay scribes (colophons or other explicit mentions; iconographic, literary and documentary sources; content of the manuscripts), it focuses on three manuscripts carrying a colophon by a lay scribe (MSS Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Lat. 8658A and 4632; Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 183), discussing their common features as well as the different situations and contexts they seem to refer to. The famous Law book Sankt Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 731 is also discussed as a case study in which the presentation of the text offers some hints for tracing the activity of lay scribes or of scribes working in a non-ecclesiastical center of book production.
Research Interests:
Attraverso l’analisi di alcune lettere spedite nel 1522 dall’agente Bernardo d’Asola allo stampatore e libraio veneziano Giovanni Bartolomeo Gabiano, questo articolo riscostruisce le modalita di distribuzione dei libri alle fiere di... more
Attraverso l’analisi di alcune lettere spedite nel 1522 dall’agente Bernardo d’Asola allo stampatore e libraio veneziano Giovanni Bartolomeo Gabiano, questo articolo riscostruisce le modalita di distribuzione dei libri alle fiere di Recanati e Lanciano. Come si evince dalla lettura di queste missive, tali fiere furono particolarmente sfortunate a causa dei focolai di peste presenti in diverse zone d’Italia nel 1522. In appendice e fornita l’edizione di una lettera particolarmente significativa, spedita da Bernardo d’Asola il 17 ottobre 1522.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Patrice Sicard, Iter Victorinum: La tradition manuscrite des œuvres de Hugues et de Richard de Saint-Victor; Répertoire complémentaire et études, avec un index cumulatif des manuscrits des œuvres de Hugues et de Richard de Saint-Victor. (Bibliotheca Victorina 24.) Turnhout: Brepols, 2015. Pp. 904...more
Research Interests:
Andreas Nievergelt, Rudolf Gamper, Marina Bernasconi Reusser, Birgit Ebersperger, and Ernst Tremp, eds., Scriptorium: Wesen, Funktion, Eigenheiten; Comité international de paléographie latine, XVIII. Kolloquium (St. Gallen 11.–14. September 2013). Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2...more
Research Interests:
Pani Laura. Insegnare e imparare il corsivo in Italia oggi : riflessioni di una paleografa. In: Gazette du livre médiéval, n°58. 2012, fasc. 1. pp. 17-36
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This paper deals with the recent discovery of a very old Latin fragment in the binding of a 16 th century edition now kept in Tolmezzo, in NorthEastern Italy. Despite its poor preservation state, the analysis of its palaeographical... more
This paper deals with the recent discovery of a very old Latin fragment in the binding of a 16 th century edition now kept in Tolmezzo, in NorthEastern Italy. Despite its poor preservation state, the analysis of its palaeographical features and the reading of its few lines have led to the conclusion that it is a 5 th century fragment of Caius Iulius Soli-nus' Collectanea rerum memorabilium in old-style uncials, with contemporary corrections in cursive script. The most ancient codices of Solinus' work known so far dating to the 9 th century, this fragment is the only manuscript evidence of its circulation in the Late Antiquity. A copy and colla-tion with Mommsen's edition are also provided. Or is the past always there, only waiting for the person who truly wants to find it? (Justin Go, The Steady Running of the Hour) nell'ambito del progetto di censimento e catalogazione di tutti gli esem-plari di edizioni antiche, dagli incunaboli fino a metà Ottocento, conser-vati p...
Research Interests:
This paper investigates the activity of lay scribes of manuscripts in the High Middle Ages until the end of the eleventh century. After a survey of the scholarly literature on this topic and a review of the chances to identify lay scribes... more
This paper investigates the activity of lay scribes of manuscripts in the High Middle Ages until the
end of the eleventh century. After a survey of the scholarly literature on this topic and a review of the chances to
identify lay scribes (colophons or other explicit mentions; iconographic, literary and documentary sources; content of the manuscripts), it focuses on three manuscripts carrying a colophon by a lay scribe (MSS Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Lat. 8658A and 4632; Bern, Burgerbibliothek,
Cod. 183), discussing their common features as well as the different situations and contexts they seem to refer to. The famous Law book Sankt Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 731 is also discussed as a case study in which the presentation of the text offers some hints for tracing the activity of lay scribes or of scribes working in a non-ecclesiastical center of book production.
end of the eleventh century. After a survey of the scholarly literature on this topic and a review of the chances to
identify lay scribes (colophons or other explicit mentions; iconographic, literary and documentary sources; content of the manuscripts), it focuses on three manuscripts carrying a colophon by a lay scribe (MSS Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Lat. 8658A and 4632; Bern, Burgerbibliothek,
Cod. 183), discussing their common features as well as the different situations and contexts they seem to refer to. The famous Law book Sankt Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 731 is also discussed as a case study in which the presentation of the text offers some hints for tracing the activity of lay scribes or of scribes working in a non-ecclesiastical center of book production.
Research Interests:
This paper deals with the MS 29 (70) of the Bibliothèque Municipale of Chartres, a 10th century witness of Joseph Flavius’ Antiquitates Iudaicae and Bellum Iudaicum. The manuscript was severely damaged by the fire from 1944 and 211... more
This paper deals with the MS 29 (70) of the Bibliothèque Municipale of Chartres, a 10th century witness of Joseph Flavius’ Antiquitates Iudaicae and Bellum Iudaicum. The manuscript was severely damaged by the fire from 1944 and 211 fragments of it survive in different state of conservation, out of the 245 folios that once formed the codex. The research has allowed to reestablish the correct textual sequence of the fragments, all digitized in the Bibliothèque virtuelle des manuscrits mediévaux, describe the codicological and paleographical features of the manuscript, date it to the second half of the 10th century and make an hypotesis on its localisation between Fleury and Saint-Père of Chartres, two abbeys tightly connected from the second half of the 10th century inwards. The paper also gives some hints of the position of the manuscript in the textual transmission and investigates its relations with the MS 183 from the Burgerbibliothek of Bern.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This paper deals with a so far little explored source on the many Black Death epidemics of the Middle Ages: the colophons of manuscripts, where the scribe refers to the plague and its evolution and impact, or focuses on the place where he... more
This paper deals with a so far little explored source on the many Black Death epidemics of the Middle Ages: the colophons of manuscripts, where the scribe refers to the plague and its evolution and impact, or focuses on the place where he finished the copy trying to escape the contagion.
Despite being still at its first stage, such a research is expected to throw new light not only on the contexts of book production, but also on the chronology of the medieval epidemics.
Despite being still at its first stage, such a research is expected to throw new light not only on the contexts of book production, but also on the chronology of the medieval epidemics.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This paper deals with three medieval manuscripts now kept in the Diocesan Seminary Library of Concordia-Pordenone (mss. 43, 83, 84). The three codices are presented with regard to their content, paleographical and codicological features... more
This paper deals with three medieval manuscripts now kept in the Diocesan Seminary Library of Concordia-Pordenone (mss. 43, 83, 84). The three codices are presented with regard to their content, paleographical and codicological features and history. The oldest among them has shelfmark 84 and is on paleographical grounds datable between the 12th and 13th century. The other two ones are from the 15th century and both dated, that is they carry an explicit chronological data concerning the copy of the whole manuscript (ms. 83, dated 1474) or of just a part of it (ms. 43, dated 1449 on fol. 50r). Furthermore, they both contain several informations on subsequent phases of their history, thanks to owners’ names, ex libris and other notes, that are also examined in this article. The paper is concluded by a catalogue of the three manuscripts.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This paper deals with the recently discovered Boccaccio’s autograph of Paul the Deacon’s Historia Langobardorum, the manuscript London, British Library, Harley 5383. Along with its membra disiecta Firenze, Biblioteca Riccardiana, 627 and... more
This paper deals with the recently discovered Boccaccio’s autograph of Paul the Deacon’s Historia Langobardorum, the manuscript London, British Library, Harley 5383. Along with its membra disiecta Firenze, Biblioteca Riccardiana, 627 and 2795(VI), it forms a handbook of ancient, roman and mediaeval history (besides the Historia Langobardorum, Paul Orose’s Historiae adversus paganos, Paul the Deacon’s Historia Romana, books XIII-XVI, Pasquale Romano’s brief epistle De origine civitatis Aretii) almost entirely copied by Boccaccio.
After recalling the circumstances of its finding, the paper points out that text of Historia Langobardorum contained in Harley 5383 and in its membrum disiectum Riccard. 2795(VI) is abridged, more than the 20% of its chapters missing or being epitomized; whether Boccaccio was also the author of this version of Paul the Deacon’s work or simply its scribe remains under discussion.
After recalling the circumstances of its finding, the paper points out that text of Historia Langobardorum contained in Harley 5383 and in its membrum disiectum Riccard. 2795(VI) is abridged, more than the 20% of its chapters missing or being epitomized; whether Boccaccio was also the author of this version of Paul the Deacon’s work or simply its scribe remains under discussion.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Dated manuscripts contain a short text, or colophon, by the scribes declaring the date on which they finished copying a text or section, as well as perhaps their name and the place copied; they also often add further information about... more
Dated manuscripts contain a short text, or colophon, by the scribes declaring the date on which they finished copying a text or section, as well as perhaps their name and the place copied; they also often add further information about their status, the conditions under which the text was copied, or the historical context.
This scribal phenomenon, which mainly concerns manuscripts from the 14th to the first half of the 16th century, has been the subject of special catalogues since the 1950s, that primarily focus on paleography and codicology.
In fact, the corpus of dated manuscripts offers researchers an extraordinary and still largely unexplored trove of data for endless and multiple investigations, covering many fields of Renaissance studies and encouraging diverse interdisciplinary research. The contributions presented in this panel are just a few examples of the possibilities.
The first paper will deal with manuscripts in which the date (usually year, month, day) is accompanied by a reference to the time of the day when the copy was finished, made explicit according to the different systems for measuring time adopted in late medieval Europe, and thus suggesting information on the daily copying rates of scribes.
The second paper, which investigates the appearance and meaning of instruments for measuring time depicted in iconographic sources, will make it possible to cross-reference data in manuscripts from an interdisciplinary perspective.
The third paper will focus on the specific category of copyists-illuminators, as they described themselves in the colophons – either famous first-rate artistic personalities or rather obscure figures –, the circumstances of their work and its outcome in terms of page layout, and graphic and decorative choices.
This scribal phenomenon, which mainly concerns manuscripts from the 14th to the first half of the 16th century, has been the subject of special catalogues since the 1950s, that primarily focus on paleography and codicology.
In fact, the corpus of dated manuscripts offers researchers an extraordinary and still largely unexplored trove of data for endless and multiple investigations, covering many fields of Renaissance studies and encouraging diverse interdisciplinary research. The contributions presented in this panel are just a few examples of the possibilities.
The first paper will deal with manuscripts in which the date (usually year, month, day) is accompanied by a reference to the time of the day when the copy was finished, made explicit according to the different systems for measuring time adopted in late medieval Europe, and thus suggesting information on the daily copying rates of scribes.
The second paper, which investigates the appearance and meaning of instruments for measuring time depicted in iconographic sources, will make it possible to cross-reference data in manuscripts from an interdisciplinary perspective.
The third paper will focus on the specific category of copyists-illuminators, as they described themselves in the colophons – either famous first-rate artistic personalities or rather obscure figures –, the circumstances of their work and its outcome in terms of page layout, and graphic and decorative choices.