We’re delighted to announce the next instalment in our series of online research talks. Dr Giulia Bellato (e2022) will speak on Medieval Urbanisation.

Join us on Zoom on Wednesday 15 February to hear more about Dr Bellato’s research. Please note that the date for this research talk was formerly the 22nd February but has been rescheduled. 

About Giulia

Giulia Bellato is a Junior Research Fellow, working on the political history of medieval Italian cities, seen through the lens of social conflict and of violence against the built environment. She privileges an approach that incorporates both history and archaeology to study the relationship between material culture and the construction of political authority. In her PhD thesis, she investigated the pervasive phenomenon of people (or groups) deliberately choosing to destroy someone’s house, tower, or other significant buildings within medieval cities, during times of political and social unrest. Her research shows that by understanding these destructive acts as part of a specific ‘language of violence’, we can use them to rewrite the political history of medieval Italian cities and learn more about the processes of development of political consciousness by their inhabitants.

At present, she is also working on an interdisciplinary project ran by the universities of Siena, Turin, Florence, and Campania, to study a large sample of castles in the medieval Italian countryside. The aim is to conduct systematic mortar analyses on these structures, provide a new chronology for their material transformations, and deepen our knowledge of the political entities associated with them.

Please use the booking form below to sign up for this webinar