Sources for VeLoCi

On the afternoon of May 7, 2025, the third Research Workshop of the VeLoCi project, titled "Fonti per VeLoCi” (Sources for VeLoCi), took place at the seat of the Società Napoletana di Storia Patria, located in Castel Nuovo, Naples. Curated by Giulia Ceriani Sebregondi, in collaboration with the Società Napoletana di Storia Patria, the workshop was originally conceived as a scholarly seminar for specialists, aimed at studying and deepening our understanding of the sources used by VeLoCi. The goal is to reconsider the traditional scientific and popular narrative according to which the ‘discovery’ of the Vesuvian cities is symbolically, chronologically, and narratively identified with the beginning of the Bourbon excavations. 

Therefore, together with colleagues from the Società Napoletana di Storia Patria, significant documentary materials were selected to be made available during the seminar, and several leading experts were invited to engage with us in discussion about their research, in a strongly interdisciplinary context. 

In this sense, the Società Napoletana di Storia Patria proved to be the ideal venue for such a seminar. It houses an extraordinary collection of documentary, iconographic, and bibliographic materials that, while centered on Naples and Southern Italy (and thus also covering the Vesuvian area), includes materials that are heterogeneous in nature and chronology. 

The workshop began with a guided tour of the prestigious institution and a presentation of its holdings, led by Donatella Zampano, Antonella Venezia, and Silvana Musella. 

The discussion, which had already sparked during the tour, continued in the Galasso Room. Francesca Mattei (Associated Investigator and head of Research Unit 2) presented the VeLoCi project, and the results achieved so far. Subsequently, Candida Carrino (Director of the State Archives of Naples and member of the VeLoCi Advisory Board) emphasized the synergy between the two Neapolitan institutions and the affinities between the research conducted by VeLoCi and the project “Royal Architectures and Archaeological Excavations in the State Archives of Naples”, now part of UNESCO’s International Memory of the World Register. This project aims at the preservation, enhancement, and especially the critical reinterpretation of the documentation related to the discovery of the buried Vesuvian cities, held in the State Archives of Naples. 

The discussion continued with a presentation by Giorgia Aureli (postdoctoral team member of VeLoCi) on our database, on which we received feedback and suggestions from attendees. 

The afternoon continued with direct observation and discussion among all participants around the materials. Of particular interest were the insights of Serena Morelli (Professor of Medieval History at the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli) on the unfinished manuscript “Discorso dei terremoti”, written in the second half of the sixteenth century by Cola Anello Pacca (1534–1587). Morelli, who edited the critical edition of the manuscript, highlighted how the work recounts earthquakes since antiquity, offering, concerning the Terra di Lavoro area, an excursus through ancient and modern sources dedicated to the topography of the region. 

Also essential was the contribution of Corinna Guerra (historian of science at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice), a scholar of the Fondo Sismico (Seismic Collection) of the Società Napoletana di Storia Patria’s library. This is a unique collection of texts and manuscripts on earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, assembled by French scientist Alexis Perrey (1807–1882). 

In addition, the meeting was attended, on behalf of VeLoCi, by Giulia Ceriani Sebregondi, Danila Jacazzi (University of Vanvitelli), and Giorgia Pietropaolo (post-doc, University of Vanvitelli), as well as, in the role of external collaborators, Gianluca Cabula (PhD student at the University of Tor Vergata) and Andrea Arsie (student at Roma Tre University). Representing the Neapolitan Society of National History were Costanza Marsico, Domenico Pino, and Alessandra Zaccagnini. 

The Research Workshop was a valuable opportunity for discussion and the development of new approaches and insights to advance the research of the VeLoCi project, which will culminate in the Final Conference titled "Lost Cities in a Global Perspective: Sources, Experience, Imagery in the Early Modern Period (15th–18th Century)." The conference will be held at the Rectorate of the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli on October 16–17, 2025. The program will be published soon. 

All updates on the VeLoCi project are available in the “News and Events” section and on our social media pages. 

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