From Antiquity to the present day, urban spaces have been characterized by the multifaceted use that was made of them, both by local residents and people passing through temporarily, both from below and from the seats of power. Such diverging ways to use the same urban spaces could exist simultaneously in time, but they could also change over time, in reaction to social, economic, cultural, religious, political, and environmental factors. The diverse sets of individual and collective memories tied to the spaces in question could change as well, often following dynamics of their own. This workshop aims to open up a discussion on the uses and changes of urban spaces in a diachronic and interdisciplinary framework. Three speakers from different disciplines – ancient Greek history, early modern history, and sociology – will each focus on a case study that highlights the dynamics of the multifunctionality and of the plurality in meaning of specific urban spaces. A round table, coordinated by experts from the fields of semiotics, history, and sociology, will bring together the three case studies in a broader discussion on transformations and ruptures in urban spaces.

Co-organized by FBK-ISIG (Italian-German Historical Institute), FBK-ISR (Center for Religious Studies), and LIMS (Interdepartmental Lab Memory and Society of the University of Trento) in the framework of the scientific collaboration agreement between FBK and LIMS.

Organizers: Valeria Fabretti (FBK-ISR), Giorgia Proietti (Università di Trento-LIMS), and Sandra Toffolo (FBK-ISIG).

Program

14h-14h30

Massimo Leone (FBK-ISR) and Massimo Rospocher (FBK-ISIG)
Institutional greetings

Giorgia Proietti (Università di Trento-LIMS)
Introduction

14h30-15h

Constanze Graml (Universität Trier)
Resilience of religiously used spaces of Athens (and Attica)

This talk focuses on the city-state of Athens and its complex spatial structuring(s). Following the polis model, a Greek city-state consists of an urban centre (asty), an inhabited zone (chora) and an uncivilized border zone (eschatia), which are i.a. interlinked through religious practices. Taking a look at ancient Athens and Attica, this model is challenged by the fact that besides the city-center, several other urbanised settlements exist. These settlements are connected through political and socio-cultural structures/systems and practices developed over centuries, amongst others religion. Besides a superimposed common religion practised at focal sanctuaries (e.g. the Acropolis), the location of which is often related to mythic-historical events, the subregions of Attica and their main settlements practice regionally relevant cults and even every household had individual religious practices. Due to this complex interlinkage of the city-state of Athens rooted within its topography, disruptions in the very same do bear an effect on religious spaces and practices. Military conflicts impeded the accessibility of certain subregions of Attica, sometimes for several decades. In this talk, I will present several case studies focusing on religiously used spaces (permanently and temporarily) and their reactions to spatial disruption within the polis territory. I will apply the concept of resilience in order to identify transformations in religion caused by this obstruction.

Discussant: Ben Cassell (King’s College London)

15h-15h30

Rachel Midura (Virginia Tech)
Early modern embassies and extraterritoriality

Every day, Venice’s civil servants commuted from the residential neighborhoods through the commercial zones of the Rialto south to the governing center of San Marco. It was a visible microcosm of major shifts underway in early modern statecraft, including bureaucratization, territorialization, and commercialization. Yet Venice’s urban fabric also reflected another key development: diplomacy, and the advent of the residential embassy. The ordering and policing of space was increasingly thwarted by extraterritorial spaces in the city. The end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth century brought these tensions into sharp relief, occasionally erupting into street brawls. The study of extraterritoriality has often focused on the person of the ambassador or ecclesiastics, but this paper considers instead when extraterritoriality became spatial, looking at the diplomatic liste and religious spaces of Venice. Digital analysis brings new depth to the reports of a seventeenth-century spy in the household of the Papal Nuncio as well as a database of crime in Venice. Overall, I use this case study to show how making exceptions required making the rules governing urban space explicit.

Discussant: Sandra Toffolo (FBK-ISIG)

15h30-16h

Break

16h-16h30

Olimpia Affuso (Università della Calabria)
Re-semanticizing the traumatic past: Collective memory and public space at Drancy-La Muette

The construction of collective memory associated with traumatic events is inevitably linked to the specific spatial context of their occurrence and the resulting narrative. Focusing on the pivotal role of public narratives and the re-semanticization of these sites, the analysis investigates how these factors shape social and collective identities. Within the realm of memory, these aspects are inextricably intertwined with the objectives and perspectives of various social, political, and cultural actors as they engage with the past in the present and project into the future. Crucially, our projections of the future influence our reconstruction of the past, and conversely, our constructed memories shape the trajectory of our future. Grounded in this theoretical framework, the study proposes a reflection on a paradigmatic site of memory: the Cité de la Muette. This former Nazi internment camp is situated in Drancy, a mere 12 kilometers from Paris. Today, the overall configuration of the site cannot be directly traced back to its past function, as the entire complex is now inhabited. This transformation has rendered the tangible traces of the catastrophe less visible, hindering the transmission of the trauma’s memory to future generations. However, the evolving historical narrative of Drancy, as reflected in its changing commemorative monuments and plaques, underscores the existence of diverse and often competing interpretations. While the physical site of the old camp remains, the trauma has been effectively concealed, leaving future generations with the task of re-framing historical facts and confronting the past. These elements illuminate the ongoing struggle of a nation grappling with its traumatic past.

Discussant: Valeria Fabretti (FBK-ISR)

16h30-17h30

Francesco Mazzucchelli (Università di Bologna) and Rosa Salzberg (Università di Trento)
Round table and general discussion

Speakers

Constanze Graml

Studied Classical Archaeology, European Art History and Ancient History at the universities of Regensburg and Heidelberg. She received her PhD at the university of Mainz for her work on the sanctuary of Artemis Soteira in the Kerameikos of Athens (published 2020). She has been employed as a Lecturer at the universities of Mainz, Munich and Regensburg and has held  several prestigious scholarships, i.a. at the Fondation Hardt in Geneva, the Institute of Classical Studies in London and the Max-Weber-Kolleg in Erfurt. Since March 2025, she is the curator of the Collection of Antiquities at the University of Trier. Her research interests lie in the field of Greek archaeology, ancient Greek religion and digital approaches to sacred landscapes while equally involving material and textual testimonies. She is currently conducting a research project on the sacred landscape of Attica (Cult and Crisis) and developing a field project at ancient Philippi, Northern Greece.

Rachel Midura

is Assistant Professor of Early Modern European and Digital History at Virginia Tech. She researches the history of intelligence, travel, and statecraft in the information age of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. She has recently published articles on Elizabethan espionage and transalpine surveillance. Her first book, ‘Postal Intelligence’ is now available from Cornell University Press in print and as an Open Access Ebook. She is now at work on a second book project on the history of assassination, treason, and conspiracy in the seventeenth century.

Olimpia Affuso

Associate Professor, teaches Sociology of Communication at the Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Calabria (UniCal). She is the Vice Coordinator of the Media e Società Digitale degree program. Since 2023 she has been among the coordinators of the Memory Studies Network ‘Demetra. Democrazia, Memoria, Trauma.’ Since 2020 she has been a member of the Scientific Council of the ‘Vita Quotidiana’ Section of the Italian Sociological Association (AIS). Her research interests focus on communicative processes, public memory, knowledge and literature, with attention to the relationship between literature and the public and political sphere. Her recent publications include: ‘La comunicazione quotidiana’ (with P. Jedlowski), Carocci, 2024; ‘L’odore della vita. Pier Paolo Pasolini: l’opera, la conoscenza, l’impegno pubblico’ (with A. Amendola, E.G. Parini), Rogas, 2023; ‘Memorie in pubblico’, Mimesis, 2017.

Massimo Leone

(FBK-ISR / Università di Torino)

Massimo Rospocher

(FBK-ISIG)

Ben Cassell

(King’s College London)

Valeria Fabretti

(FBK-ISR)

Francesco Mazzucchelli

(Università di Bologna)

Giorgia Proietti

(Università di Trento-LIMS)

Rosa Salzberg

(Università di Trento)

Sandra Toffolo

(FBK-ISIG)

Co-organized