Venue: Curia Iulia
The day begins with transatlantic and global mobility: from the stories embedded in Kulango goldweights to the illegal slave trade in the Kingdom of Sardinia and the use of minerals in Fascist Italy’s autarkic propaganda. In the late morning, we will delve into the complex dynamics of cultural heritage and museum practices, examining Ethiopian artefacts between colonial museums and domestic memories, as well as the political, identity-related, and religious dynamics of the Horn of Africa in the aftermath of the Second World War. The afternoon will conclude with an exploration of collections, heritage, and representations — from the stories of Italians in Zanzibar to the Medici family’s botanical fascination with African plants in Florence, and representations of Black beauty in Western art — before the final reflections by Anna Maria Medici and Pierluigi Valsecchi.
9:30 Session Four (II) — Circulation of Objects, Ideas and People — Chair: Pierluigi Valsecchi (University of Pavia – SSM, Naples)
Ilaria Micheli (University of Trieste), Between Matter and Poetry: Stories of Europe–Africa Contact Encoded in Kulango Gold Weights (Côte d’Ivoire) from the Society of African Missions
Federica Morelli (ISIG-FBK Trento), Between the Mediterranean, West Africa and Brazil: The Kingdom of Sardinia’s Illegal Slave Trade (1830–1860)
Anna Vyazemtseva (Wolfsoniana – Palazzo Ducale, Genoa), Minerals and Propaganda: The Exhibition of Italian Autarkic Minerals (1938–1939)
11:00 Break
11:15 Session Five — Cultural Heritage and the Musealisation of Objects
Matilde Vernuccio (University of Turin), Ethiopian Artefacts between Colonial Museums and Domestic Memories
Maria Bonaria Urban (Reale Istituto Neerlandese di Roma / Universiteit van Amsterdam), From Rome to the World: Political Entanglementes, Identity Construction, and Religious Agency in the Horn of Africa (1941-1958)
13:00 Break
14:30 Session Six — Collections, Heritage and Representations
Marta Di Giulio (Sapienza University of Rome), Nigra sum sed formosa: Voices of Blackness and Denied Beauty in Western Art. Cameos, Pietra Dura Inlays, and African Representations Between Collecting, Mobility, and Slavery
Barbara De Poli (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice), Italians in Zanzibar (1881–2025)
Daniele Angelotti (Italian Ministry of Culture – Boboli Gardens and University of Tuscia), From Africa to Medici Florence: Plants and Botanical Interests as a Cultural Bridge between the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
16:15 Discussion
16:45 Concluding Remarks
Anna Maria Medici (University of Urbino Carlo Bo)
Pierluigi Valsecchi (University of Pavia - SSM, Naples)
Moderator: Massimo Carlo Giannini (University of Teramo)