The VeLoCi Team at the RSA Boston 2025 Conference

The VeLoCi research project will participate in the 71st annual conference of the Renaissance Society of America (RSA), which will take place in Boston from March 20 to 22, 2025, with a panel dedicated to the rediscovery of the Vesuvian cities before the extensive excavations of the 18th century: "The Vesuvian Lost Cities before the ‘Discovery’. Sources, Experience, Imagery in Early Modern Period".

Contrary to the established narrative, which suggests that Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis, and Stabiae remained buried and unknown until the first official archaeological campaigns, our study analyzes textual, iconographic, and material evidence demonstrating interactions with these sites dating back to the early modern period. The panel brings together four papers that explore different perspectives on this innovative research.

Papers presented by the VeLoCi team: 

• "When were the Vesuvian Lost Cities discovered? Traces and Evidence from the Early Modern Period" – Giulia Ceriani Sebregondi (Università degli Studi della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli")
  An analysis of archival and material sources that attest to the knowledge and partial exploration of the Vesuvian cities before the 18th-century, with a particular focus on the case study of Castellammare di Stabia. 
• "Unknown Celebrity. The Topography of the Vesuvian Area in the Early Modern Period" – Francesca Mattei (Università degli Studi Roma Tre)
  A study on the fusion between artistic-literary imagination and empirical knowledge of underground Campania, through the analysis of texts and maps from the 15th to the 17th century. 
• "Recovering the Vesuvian Lost Cities through Engraved Sources: The 17th-century Landscape Views by Nicolas Perrey" – Milena Viceconte (Universitat de Lleida)
  An investigation into 17th-century cartographic and landscape representations of the Vesuvian cities, focusing on the engravings by Nicolas Perrey, which highlight topographical awareness of these sites long before official excavations. 
• "Private Discoveries for Public Memory: Antiquities on Display in Early Modern Rome and Naples" – Giorgia Aureli (Università degli Studi Roma Tre)
  An analysis of the public display of antiquities discovered before the official extensive excavations, emphasizing the role of private initiatives in shaping collective memory. 

This event represents an important opportunity to share some of the VeoCi project's findings with the international academic community, contributing to the debate on the relationship between empirical and material knowledge of cities and territories in the context of early modern rediscovery of antiquity. 

Link: https://rsa.confex.com/rsa/2025/meetingapp.cgi/Session/8049