22/09/2016
with Catherine Ramsey-Portolano (American University of Rome)
Milan has been at the heart of modern Italy’s cultural transformations. Considered the “capitale morale” of the country since the nineteenth century, the city has also acquired the role of a financial capital, becoming the “città operosa” par excellence in the collective imagination. It has become the home of prominent intellectual figures and a place where cultural institutions as well as major national newspapers and publishing houses have increasingly been concentrated. The city has historically presented itself as a hub for members of the intellectual professions and, during recent decades, for the television, fashion and design industries. Milan has also been a gateway for Italy, filtering cultural innovation and transformation from abroad, and cyclically has acted as a point of attraction or connection for diverse migration fluxes. Our conference explores Milan as a crossroads of cultures and a fertile ground for artistic experimentation and cultural exchange, also emphasising the role of the industrial context and professional expertise in producing, developing or steering transformations over the last two centuries, with a privileged focus on contemporary developments.
The conference results from the collaboration between the Università degli Studi di Milano, the University of Birmingham and the University of Warwick and is funded by the grant PSR Unimi 2015 – Linea A (PI Stefano Ghidinelli) entitled “E qui t’aspetto”: Milano e la poesia italiana del Novecento. Paradigmi editoriali e metamorfosi di un cronotopo” and by a contribution of the SIS-Society for Italian Studies. The initiative is part of the research seminar History and Fiction (coordinated by Dr Fabio Camilletti at the University of Warwick) and of the research coordinated by Clodagh Brook, Florian Mussgnug, Giuliana Pieri and Emanuela Patti within the Interdisciplinary Italy 1900-2020project (http://www.interdisciplinaryitaly.org/, funded by the AHRC.
Scientific committee
Dr Clodagh Brook (University of Birmingham), Dr Jennifer Burns (University of Warwick), Dr Fabio Camilletti (University of Warwick), Prof. Bruno Falcetto (Università degli Studi di Milano), Dr Stefano Ghidinelli (Università degli Studi di Milano), Dr Emanuela Patti (University of Birmingham).
Organizing committee
Marco Bellardi (PhD candidate, University of Birmingham), Maria Belova (PhD candidate, University of Warwick), Sara Boezio (PhD candidate, University of Warwick), Giulia Brecciaroli (PhD candidate, University of Warwick)
Unimi organizing staff
Sara Sullam (Università degli Studi di Milano)
http://sites.unimi.it/milan_crossroad/