Introduction
Between 2022 and 2024, the name of Prof. Carla Rossi — art historian, Romance philologist, and director of academic institutions — was involved in a digital defamation campaign, culminating in unfounded accusations questioning her professional integrity.
The Organisation pour la Protection des manuscrits Médiévaux (OProM) presents here a structured reflection on the dynamics behind this distortion, fuelled by a lack of communication, superficial readings of facts, and unmet social expectations.

1. Silence as Interpretative Void
In today’s landscape — dominated by Twitter/X, opinion blogs, and viral content — the choice not to respond publicly is often (wrongly) interpreted as concealment or admission.
In truth, Prof. Rossi has maintained a rigorous stance: relying solely on official documentation, legal instruments, and verifiable acts.

However, in the informational vacuum of social media, silence is often filled with subjective projections. False profiles in her name were even created to fill this gap with fictitious narratives.

2. Professional Continuity as a Paradox

 During the peak of public pressure, Carla Rossi’s academic career did not stop. She received new appointments (including teaching History of Illumination at the University of Salento), published books and articles (e.g., The 1879 Theft of Royal MS 16 E VIII, 2024), and remained active in editorial and academic roles.
For some, this continuity appeared suspicious: if she continued, she must be “protected.”
This is a logical paradox known as cognitive dissonance: when reality contradicts the expectation of a “collapse,” alternative — often unfounded — explanations are sought.

3. The Power of Viral Narratives

 Many of the accusations spread without any reading or verification of official documents.
Examples include:

 • The natural expiration of her contract with the University of Zurich was framed as a “dismissal”

 • Public and registered affiliations were branded “false”

 • The use of stock images during the pandemic, when resources were reallocated to platforms such as Zoom, was portrayed as “systematic deception”
All these points were taken out of context and amplified virally.
Rossi’s decision not to performatively respond on social media solidified a one-sided narrative, despite the real documentation being — and remaining — publicly accessible (e.g. Receptio Foundation’s Swiss registry, or her affiliation with Franklin University).

4. Academic Context and Systemic Biases

 In an academic environment marked by competition and patronage, independence can provoke hostility. In this case, Rossi’s refusal to compromise and her autonomous direction of academic projects triggered mechanisms of exclusion and delegitimisation.
Being a woman, a director, a public and critical voice further amplified these dynamics: defamation disguised itself as “ethical vigilance,” but operated instead as an erasure mechanism.

OProM affirms the importance of restoring the facts based on documentation.
The so-called “ReceptioGate” — a defamatory term coined in hostile environments — has never concerned any scandal. It is the result of distortion, rivalry, and disinformation, fuelled by non-academic actors.

Prof. Carla Rossi has spent over thirty years studying, safeguarding, and denouncing the dismemberment of illuminated manuscripts. Her work is grounded in philological rigour, material evidence, and scientific transparency.

 1. Research Origins

• 1996: Carla Rossi begins to study the dispersion and dismemberment of illuminated manuscripts independently.
• Since 2006: her work takes the form of an independent research project — self-funded — aimed at documenting the circulation of dismembered leaves and promoting their reconstruction.

 2. Report to the TPC and the Publication on AboutArt

• August 2022: first formal complaint to the Carabinieri Command for Cultural Heritage Protection (TPC)
• October 2022: supplementary memorandum submitted to the TPC
• 20 December 2022: publication of Rossi’s article on AboutArt:
→ “Manoscritti medievali europei a prezzi stracciati sul web”

 3. Reaction and Narrative Distortion

• 22 December 2022: the Società di Storia della Miniatura (Naples) begins circulating Rossi’s article, which includes references to the complaint, via its public mailing list.
• 23 December 2022: A certain Peter Kidd, a manuscript dealer and author of the blog Medieval Manuscripts Provenance (with no academic affiliation), publishes the first post with false claims and insinuations.
Operating as a freelancer, Kidd uses his blog to present excised folios for commercial purposes. The term “ReceptioGate” is born in this environment and soon spreads online.

 4. Further Investigations Published by Prof. Rossi and her team on AboutArt

• A rare incunable of the Commedia dismembered and sold on eBay
• The Madruzzo Book of Hours dismembered and sold
• The Book of Hours of the Guyot family
• The Whitney Hours

In response to the disinformation campaign targeting Prof. Carla Rossi between 2022 and 2025, the Organisation pour la Protection des manuscrits Médiévaux (OProM) has compiled and published a full documentation of events.

📄 Official dossier (PDF – DOI):
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15268511← 

📘 Substack (Italian original):
https://opro-m.substack.com

Publications

• Isabelle Boursier's Book of Hours, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2024

• La filologia al servizio della storia del manoscritto W425 di Baltimora, Theory and Criticism of Literature & Arts, 8/2, 2024

• Digital Reconstruction of a Dismembered Book of Hours Illuminated by Robert Boyvin, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2024

• The 1879 Theft of Royal Ms 16 E VIII from the British Museum, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2024

• Beyond the Margins: Female Illuminators in Medieval and Renaissance Europe, Ethics International Press, 2024

• Desiderio e Interdizione: L'amore nella lirica europea da Guglielmo IX a Shakespeare, Alta Formazione Editrice, 2025

• Medusa-Donna Petra-Francesca, in Theory and Criticism of Literature and Arts, 2025

• Il laccio d’amore H&M, Imago Srl, 2025

• Miniatrici Fiamminghe, Commentario al ms. W.173, Imago Srl, 2025

• Desiderio e Interdizione (seconda edizione ampliata), 2025

Conferences and Seminars

• Il Dante di Jorge Luis Borges, SISD Lugano, 2023

• L’anglo-normand comme vecteur de résistance chez les dames de l’entourage de Thomas Becket, Fontevraud, October 2024

• San Giovanni androgino, Lugano, 18 May 2024

• La Donna / Le Donne in Dante, Università di Barcellona, october 2024

• Biblioclastia a scopo di lucro, seminario, 2025

• Presentazione del volume sul Ms. 198 della Guarneriana, June 2025

Academic Appointments

 • 2023–2024: University of Salento – Chair in History of Illumination
• Since 2023: Director of SISD (International Dante Studies Seminar)
• Since 2024: Director of ISFiDa (Institut d’Estudis Filològics i Dantescos)
• Since 2023: Co-director of Biblioclasm and Digital Reconstructions series, Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Support Statements

→ Letters and testimonies: www.oprom.eu/fns

OProM reaffirms its support for Prof. Carla Rossi, whose work in defence of manuscript heritage represents an authoritative, independent, and evidence-based voice. The attempt to turn this integrity into suspicion is a dangerous distortion — one that must be countered through philological rigour and open documentation.

📚 Further Links to the Defamation Campaign – and the Documented Truth Behind It

Between 2022 and 2024, a smear campaign targeted Prof. Carla Rossi following her work on manuscript dismemberment and provenance ethics. Below is a selection of documented academic and legal responses, including peer-reviewed publications, court-accepted reports, and institutional articles.

These links provide direct access to verified facts, not speculation.

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🔗 RECEPTIOGate – Timeline and Key Pages
https://www.receptiogate.info/
https://www.receptiogate.info/timeline
https://www.receptiogate.info/actors-behind-the-defamation/peter-kidd-medieval-manuscripts-provenance
https://www.receptiogate.info/faq

🔗 OProM – Academic Documentation and Case Studies
https://www.oprom.eu/post/how-peter-kidd-promoted-the-destruction-of-the-de-roucy-hours-his-collaboration-with-manuscript-dis
https://www.oprom.eu/post/peter-kidd-excised-leaves-and-the-illusion-of-provenance-research-2025-commentary
https://www.oprom.eu/post/peter-kidd-a-documented-case-of-defamation-and-concealment-from-giovanni-mazzarelli-to-receptiog
https://www.oprom.eu/post/peter-kidd-manuscripts-provenance-mssprovenance-false-claims-and-misuse-of-oprom-identity
https://www.oprom.eu/post/peter-kidd-medieval-manuscripts-provenance-mssprovenance-a-dormant-blog-once-used-to-promote-manu
https://www.oprom.eu/post/from-bloomsbury-to-sotheby-s-the-destruction-and-sale-of-the-de-roucy-hours-and-peter-kidd-s-part
https://www.oprom.eu/post/the-receptiogate-affair-official-documents-academic-response-and-timeline-of-events
https://www.oprom.eu/post/the-receptiogate-affair-truth-defamation-and-the-struggle-against-manuscript-dismemberment

🔗 ISFiDA – Academic Responses and Ethical Positions
https://www.isfida.eu/post/peter-kidd-a-documented-case-of-defamation-and-concealment-from-giovanni-mazzarelli-to-receptiog
https://www.isfida.eu/post/biblioclasm-market-and-ethics-stop-calling-them-fragments
https://www.isfida.eu/post/how-mssprovenance-lost-its-purpose-and-turned-into-an-attack-bloga-documented-contribution-to-the
https://www.isfida.eu/post/peter-kidd-manuscripts-provenance-mssprovenance-ethical-concerns-and-the-legacy-of-dismembered-ma
https://www.isfida.eu/post/receptiogate-official-documents-publications-and-institutional-response
https://www.isfida.eu/post/receptiogate-and-the-defence-of-academic-integrity

🔗 Alta-Formazione – General Overview and Indexing Posts
https://www.alta-formazione.it/post/receptiogate-spiegato-diffamazione-documenti-accuse-infondate-e-risposta-accademica
https://www.alta-formazione.it/post/what-is-receptiogate-a-chronicle-of-attacks-and-academic-continuity

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All content above is backed by peer-reviewed publications and legal documentatio

📄 Medium article (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15301976)
https://medium.com/@fondazione.receptio/what-is-receptiogate-really-a-centres-mission-a-smear-campaign-and-the-academic-response-42f7b83de683

#ReceptioGate #AcademicIntegrity #ManuscriptStudies #Biblioclasm #PeterKidd #CulturalHeritage #OpenAccess #ScholarlyResponse