Transcultural Conferences

The Impact of Arabic Sciences in Europe and Asia, in Micrologus. Nature, Sciences and Medieval Societies, vol. XXIV, Florence, SISMEL Edizioni del Galluzzo 2016, p. VI-504. Proceedings of the international Conference (2014, January 21-23) held at the Internationales Kolleg für geisteswissenschaftliche Forschung, Erlangen, with the aim to exam the impact of the penetration of Arabic sources in the Latin Medieval West and Asia. In the Latin Medieval West Arabic sources were a reservoir of knowledge of universal value. The consciousness of innovation was a fundamental feature of Western medieval culture and science. The cultural exchanges between India and surrounding countries go back to quite old time. In the context of the history of science, particularly in this conference, the role played by Central Asia and Iran was very important. 

Longevity and Immortality. Europe-Islam-Asia, in Micrologus. Nature, Sciences and Medieval Societies, vol. XXVI, Florence, SISMEL Edizioni del Galluzzo 2018, p. XVI-421. Proceedings of the international Conference (2016, February 23-25) held at the Internationales Kolleg für geisteswissenschaftliche Forschung, Erlangen, whith the aim to develop a comparative perspective on the traditions and the practices associated with longevity and immortality across a wide range of civilizations, spanning Asia (China, Tibet, Japan), the Islamic World, and Western Europe (Middle Ages, Renaissance).

The Diffusion of the Islamic Sciences in the Western World, in Micrologus. Nature, Sciences and Medieval Societies, vol. XXVIII, Florence, SISMEL Edizioni del Galluzzo 2020, p. XL-340. Proceedings of the international Confercence (2017, April 24-28) held at the University of Petra, Amman, Jordan with the aim to present an updated survey of the diffusion of Islamic Sciences in the Western World, from al-Haytham to Newton, with a particular focus on disciplines as philosopy, medicine, pharmacology, mathematics, astronomy, magic, alchemy and culinary knowledge.

Arabic and Latin Theory of Perspective, in Micrologus. Nature, Sciences and Medieval Societies, vol. XXIX, Florence, SISMEL Edizioni del Galluzzo 2021, p. XVI-327. Proceedings of the international Conference (2018, September 27-29)  held at the siege of the SISMEL, Florence, with the aim to exam the role of the visual theories elaborated in the Medieval East and Latin worlds in the development of artistic theories of linear perspective in early 15th century Florence, from Alhazen’s influential De aspectibus to the late-medieval ‘perspectivism’ of Florentine artists and architects.

Les gestes à la cour: Occident latin-Byzance-Islam, in Micrologus. Nature, Sciences and Medieval Societies, vol. XXX, Florence, SISMEL Edizioni del Galluzzo 2022. Proceedings of the  international Conference held at the University of Lausanne (2018, October 28-30) with the aim to compare the  gestuality at the courts of Western and Eastern Europe in the late Middle ages and Early Modern Times, as well as in the Islamic world, with a particular focus on ceremonies and rites, interpersonal and diplomatic relations, violence and conflicts, hierarchies and social distinctions.

L’éloquence du visage entre Orient et Occident, Florence, SISMEL Edizioni del Galluzzo 2022 (Micrologus Library 110). Proceedings of the international Conference held at the Foundation «Novoe Iskusstvoznanie», St. Petersbourg (2019, July 4-5) with the aim to explore images, ideas, representations of human and divine face through centuries, societies, civilizations, from Medieval West to China and Japan, from the Late Antiquity to the Early Modern Times, with a particular focus on the history of medicine, philosophy, literature and art.

The Poison: Knowledge, Uses, Practices. Europe-Islam, Florence, SISMEL Edizioni del Galluzzo 2022 (Micrologus Library 112). Proceedings of the international Conference held at the University of Trento (2019, December 10-12) with the aim to explore the theme of poison in an interdisciplinary and diachronical perspective from the Antiquity to the Early Modern Times, with a particular focus on the codification of knowledge, practices and cultures.

Philosophy, Sciences and Arts at the court of Robert of Anjou in Micrologus. Nature, Sciences and Medieval Societies, vol. XXXI, Florence, SISMEL Edizioni del Galluzzo 2023, p. VI-493. Proceedings of the international Conference, Naples, University of Naples “L’Orientale”, 13-14 September 2021, dedicated in a transversal perspective to one of the most original and influential sovereigns of the Mediterranean world in the XIVth century, in the history of knowledge and science. Roberto’s scientific interests are at the very heart of the cultural exchanges between East and West.

The Recipe from the XIIth to the XVIIth centuries. Europe, Islam, Far East, Florence, SISMEL Edizioni del Galluzzo 2023 (Micrologus Library 116). Proceedings of the international conference (University of Tours, 2022 April 26-28). Between the XIIth and XVIIth centuries, the recipe was probably one of the most usual ways to spread scientific and technical knowledge in Western Europe as in Islamic and Eastern countries. These recipes are common in medicine and cookery, alchemy and magic, metallurgy and cosmetics. Studying the influences and exchanges between European and non-European recepees is an essential point.

Images of desire in the Mediterranean World, Florence, SISMEL Edizioni del Galluzzo 2024 (Micrologus Library 121). Proceedings of the international conference Bari, University of Bari, 24-26 May 2022, on the images of «desire» in the Mediterraneen world from Antiquity to Early Modern times, inside the cultural traditions which influenced the medieval civilization – Christian, Jewish, Islamic –, with a particular focus on the relations between thought and social life.

Le sommeil. Théories, représentations et pratiques (Moyen Âge-Époque moderne), Florence, SISMEL Edizioni del Galluzzo 2024 (Micrologus Library 125. Proceedings of the international Conference, University of Lausanne, 20-22 October 2021 on sleep theories and practices from the Antiquity to Early modern times, in a interdisciplinar and transversal perspective, from the latin Western medieval Europe to the East and the Islamic world, with a particular focus on the medieval theories, the sleep practices interesting different social levels.

Marginal intelligences. Glossae as places of creativity and difference (4th-16th centuries), Bologna (21-23 September 2023). University of Bologna, Department of Classical and Italian Philology FICLIT. 

Organiser: prof. Francesco Santi, University of Bologna. 

To be printed.

The Labour in the Medieval Mediterranean Traditions, contexts, representations between East and West (28-30 May 2024). University of Bari, Department of history. Organizer: prof. Pietro Silanos, University of Bari. 

Les jumeaux entre l’Antiquité et la première époque moderne / Twins between Antiquity and the Early Modern Period. International conference (University of Neuchâtel, 11-13 September 2024). Organiser: prof. Thalia Brero, University of Neuchâtel.

The Geometry between East and West (Middle Ages-Early Modern Times) (working title) Florence, Sismel (9-11 October 2024). The program is at an advanced stage of development. Organizer: Dr. Francesca Galli, University of Zurich; Dr. Clelia Crialesi, KU Leuven.

The Pseudo-epigraphy, Middle Ages-Early Modern Times. Christendom, Judaïsm, Islam. Bologna, University, 18-20 September 2025. Organizer: Francesco Santi (Alma Mater University of Bologna), Agostino Paravicini Bagliani (Sismel, Florence). Among the very rich pseudo-epigraphical medieval literature (pseudo-Aristotle, pseudo-Albert the Great, pseudo-Ramon Lull, pseudo-Maimonides, Pseudo-Avicenna etc. etc.) the conference will attempt to answer questions such as – How does a work become anonymous? What are the reasons for attributing an anonymous work to an author? To what extent does censorship and/or self-censorship make a work anonymous? – and try to understand pseudo-epigraphic mechanisms such as: unpublished material of the master that enters into circulation by disciples who keep his name; reflections of oral teaching; adaptation of works that are perceived to be aged; strength of the author's name, strategies to defend condemned author; misunderstanding of the meaning of an author's work; loss of awareness at the time of printing etc.

Hermes and the Sciences. Napoli, University of Naples «L'Orientale», 9-12 June 2026. Scientific Committee: Charles Burnett, Irene Caiazzo, Richard Kieckhefer, Agostino Paravicini Bagliani, Michela Pereira, Antonella Sannino, Loris Sturlese, Nicolas Weill-Parot. Sections: Theoretical Hermetism. Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft. Alchemy. Astrology-Modern Age. Organiser: Antonella Sannino, Universitty of Naples L'Orientale, Dipartimento di Scienze  Umane e Sociali.

Hermes and the Sciences. Napoli, University of Naples «L'Orientale», 9-12 June 2026. Scientific Committee: Charles Burnett, Irene Caiazzo, Richard Kieckhefer, Agostino Paravicini Bagliani, Michela Pereira, Antonella Sannino, Loris Sturlese, Nicolas Weill-Parot. Sections: Theoretical Hermetism. Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft. Alchemy. Astrology-Modern Age. Organiser: Antonella Sannino, Universitty of Naples L'Orientale, Dipartimento di Scienze  Umane e Sociali.

The Cruelty / La cruauté between East and West (Middle Ages-Early Modern Times) (Middle Ages-Early Modern)  Lausanne, University, 2-3 November 2026. Organizer: Prof. Eva Pibiri, A. Paravicini Bagliani (Sismel, Florence), Francesco Santi (Alma Mater University of Bologna). 

Il potere del sangue tra Est e Ovest / The power of blood betwen East and West. University of Trento, March 2027

L’immaginazione. Un approccio transculturale/Imagination. A transcultural approach. University of Bologna, September 2027. A first seminar on Memory, imagination, texts will be held on November 19, 2025.