“Mapping the Aegean: Cristoforo Buondelmonti’s Liber Insularum (15th century) and the Origins of Classical Archaeology” is a project funded by a three year Marie Sklodowska-Curie Global fellowship [Horizon 2020, GA 894231].
MapAeg was aimed at the study and the promotion of knowledge of the Liber Insularum Archipelagi (1420) by the Florentine traveler Cristoforo Buondelmonti. This book can be considered the first guide to the Greek islands, each of them described by a textual paragraph and illustrated by colour maps, in a format which gave rise to the new literary genre of Isolaria. In addition to offering precious information on the specific islands, the Liber occupies a relevant role in history of European cultural heritage as the travels of Buondelmonti paved the way to the rediscovery and exploration of Greece, a land whose territory, language, and culture where still largely unknown to the Western European scholars. Because of Buondelmonti’s Humanistic background, his descriptions and even the maps incorporate frequent references to ancient ruins and settlements and his autoptic surveys of the Greek islands represent the first step for the birth and development of Classical archaeology. Given the fortune and the impact this work - which circulated in around 75 manuscript copies not only in the Latin original version, but also in translations in Greek, English, French and Italian.- had on the Italian and European Humanistic circles, the Liber represents a fundamental text in the rediscovery and transmission of the Classical tradition and it therefore deserves a full and comprehensive multidisciplinary study which combines traditional scholarly research with the application of Digital Humanities.
The project was hosted by the University of Venice Ca’ Foscari under the supervision of Antonio Rigo, Professor of Byzantine Philology and of Byzantine History. Since its inception MapAeg was affiliated to the Center for Digital and Public Humanities (VeDPH) at the Department of Humanities. The partner institution for the outgoing phase was Stanford University under the supervision of Giovanna Ceserani, Associate Professor of Classics and Director of the Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis (CESTA).
Benedetta Bessi is a Classical archaeologist interested in the cultural history of the ancient Mediterranean, history of archaeology and digital humanities.
She has conducted fieldwork and research in Italy, Greece, Syria, and Libya and has travelled extensively to North Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East acquiring first-hand familiarity with archaeological sites, museums, and the cultural heritage of these areas.
She holds a B.A. in Classics from the University of Florence (with a one year at the Ludwig-Maximilians Universität in Munich), a postgraduate specialization degree in Classical Archaeology from the Italian Archaeological School of Athens (SAIA), a PhD in Greek and Roman Archaeology and History of Art from the University of Messina and a three-year diploma in Arabic language and Arabic culture from the Italian Institute for Africa and the Orient (ISIAO).
She was Mary Seeger O'Boyle Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Program in Hellenic Studies at Princeton and Alexander Onassis research fellow at the National Hellenic Research Foundation in Athens.
She has taught courses in Classics and Classical Archaeology at many American institutions in Rome including John Cabot University and Temple Rome Program and she has been featured in documentaries and TV shows on History Channel, National Geographic, and Netflix.
Bessi B and Fusi D: Modelling the Archipelago: Corfu as a Case Study for a Digital Edition of Cristoforo Buondelmonti’s Liber Insularum (Daniele Fusi, coauthor), Open Research Europe 2024, 4:11, 1-23. (https://doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.16712.1)
Bessi B: Homer in the Liber Insularum by Cristoforo Buondelmonti. In Studi sulla riscoperta umanistica di Omero. ed. John Butcher, Paola Megna, Nigel Wilson. Città di Castello: Nuova Prhomos 2023, 59–78.
Bessi B: The Ionian Islands in the Liber Insularum of Cristoforo Buondelmonti in The History and Culture of the Ionian Islands. ed A. Hirst A, Sammon P. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2014, 225–261.
Bessi B: Cristoforo Buondelmonti: Greek Antiquities in Florentine Humanism. The Historical Revue. La Revue Historique 2012, 9: 63–76. (https://doi.org/10.12681/hr.289)
Bessi B: A New Approach to Cristoforo Buondelmonti’s Liber Insularum: the Case of Siphnos. In Proceedings of the 3rd International Siphnean Symposium, Siphnos, June 29-July 2, 2006. Ed. John Zervoudakis, Society for Siphnean Studies: Athens 2009, 207–214.
Bessi B: The Antiquities of the Island of Siphnos according to the Accounts of Modern Travellers, Proceedings of the 1st International Siphnean Symposium, Siphnos, June 25-28, 1998. Ed. John Zervoudakis, Society for Siphnean Studies, Athens 2001, 141-54.
- “Cristoforo Buondelmonti’s Liber Insularum and the Rediscovery of Greece in Renaissance Humanism”, paper given at the International Conference “The Material Heritage of Ancient Greece in Early Modern Europe. New Approaches and Perspectives”, Norwegian Institute at Athens, February 1-2, 2024, (Conference organized in the frame of GrECI; Greek Heritage in European Culture and Identity, ERC Twinning project).
“Cristoforo Buondelmonti’s Liber insularum and the Origins of Classical Archaeology”, paper given at the International Conference “Paving the Way to the Rediscovery of Ancient Greece: Cristoforo Buondelmonti and Other Travellers (15th-19th century). New Approaches and Methods”, Ca’ Foscari University, October 12-13, 2023.
“Modelling the Archipelago. The Digital Edition of Cristoforo Buondelmonti’s Liber Insularum”, with Daniele Fusi, paper given at the International Conference “Paving the Way to the Rediscovery of Ancient Greece: Cristoforo Buondelmonti and Other Travellers (15th-19th century). New Approaches and Methods”, Ca’ Foscari University, October 12-13, 2023.
- “Mapping the Aegean: Cristoforo Buondelmonti's Liber Insularum from Manuscript to the Web”, Seminar of the Venice Center for Digital and Public Humanities (VeDPH) at Ca’ Foscari, September 20, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leDQ--Jx1B8
“Dall’Arno all’Egeo. Il Liber Insularum di Cristoforo Buondelmonti”, series of lectures presented to the course “Bizanzio: civiltà e influenza” taught by Antonio Rigo, Ca’ Foscari University, April 6-7 and 17, 2023
- “Cristoforo Buondelmonti e la nascita dell’archeologia greca”, lecture presented to the postgraduate students of the specialization course at the Italian Archaeological School of Athens, March 20, 2023
- “Toward a Digital Edition of the Liber Insularum by Cristoforo Buondelmonti” lecture at the Centre for Manuscript and Text Culture, Queen’s College, Oxford University, November 8, 2022
- “Islands in the Sun. Insularity in Cristoforo Buondelmonti’s Liber Insularum”, paper presented at the Annual Meeting of Postgraduates in the Reception of the Ancient World, Yale University, November 5, 2022
“Mapping the Aegean: Cristoforo Buondelmonti's Liber insularum (15th Century) and the Origins of Classical Archaeology” joint paper presented with Daniele Fusi at “New Horizons in DH”, Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis at Stanford, 19-20 October 2022
- “Cristoforo Buondelmonti e la nascita dell’archeologia classica”, lecture in the frame of the undergraduate courses in Classical Archaeology and History of Archaeology by Annalisa Lo Monaco, Roma La Sapienza, 5 Ottobre, 2022
- “Mapping the Aegean: Cristoforo Buondelmonti's Liber Insularum & the Birth of Classical Archaeology”, paper presented at Friday Research Talk of the Classics Department of Stanford University, May 6, 2022.
- “Greek Island Hopping: Cristoforo Buondelmonti Travels in the Aegean”, paper presented at the Stanford Berkeley workshop “New Research on Ancient Mobility and Connectivity”, Stanford Archaeology Center (SAC), April 30, 2022.
- “Mapping the Aegean: The Liber Insularum by Cristoforo Buondelmonti”, presentation at the Bay Area Chapter of the Italian Scientists and Scholars in North America Foundation (ISSNAF), Berkeley, March 24, 2022
- “Greek Antiquities in Florentine Humanism. Cristoforo Buondelmonti’s Liber Insularum. Modelling Memories”, paper presented jointly with Daniele Fusi at the 2nd International Conference of the European Association of Digital Humanities, University of Siberia, September 21-25, 2021
- "Mapping the Aegean: The Liber Insularum by Cristoforo Buondelmonti. Challenges and Solutions for a Digital Edition", Text Technologies Workshop Series, Text Technologies, Centre for Spatial and Textual Analysis, Stanford University Apr 1, 2021.
“The Rediscovery of Greece by the early Humanists” invited lecture to the graduate course “Words and Things in the History of Classical Scholarship” taught by Giovanna Ceserani at Stanford University, Oct 10, 2020