The Digital Spritz 2024 initiative kicked off on Wednesday, 17 January, with a series of meetings focused on digital topics and Digital Humanities in the teaching and research of foreign languages and literatures. The guest for the first event was Prof. Adriaan Van der Weel from Leiden University, co-author of the Ljubljana Manifesto on the importance of higher-level reading, also known as deep reading.
His talk, titled “The Screen Challenge: Deep Reading in the Digital Age”, delved into topics related to reading on digital devices, contrasting deep reading—a slow, immersive experience rich in sensory and emotional details—with fast reading. He also explored the reading crisis and the connection between democracy and reading.
As a reminder, the next Digital Spritz will take place on Wednesday, 21 February, featuring Prof. Fabio Ciotti from the University of Rome Tor Vergata, who will present on “GPT as Model Reader: LLMs and Narrative Comprehension”.
New year, new Digital Spritz events! The first meeting of the Digital Spritz series will take place on Wednesday, 17 January, at 5:00 p.m. in the Co-Working Room of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Verona (Palazzo di Lingue, first floor mezzanine). This will be the first of ten scheduled events, aimed at fostering scientific discussion on Digital Humanities.
The inaugural session will feature Adriaan van der Weel, with a presentation “The Screen Challenge: Deep Reading in the Digital Age”, and will conclude with a customary convivial moment.
The format, introduced during the previous 2018-2022 Excellence Project, has been a resounding success since its first edition in 2020 and has become a feature initiative. Italian and international scholars will once again lead monthly meetings from January to December 2024 to stimulate scientific dialogue on the topic of Digital Humanities. The goal of this initiative is to further develop the scientific debate on Digital Humanities through active public participation.
On Wednesday, 13 December, 2023, the play TRIANGOLI was performed at Teatro Camploy by the Teatro a Rotelle Company as part of Festivabìlia, a theater festival organized by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Verona. The festival features theatre companies associated with the world of disability.
Directed by Nicoletta Vicentini and Jana Karsaiova, the play is inspired by Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac and focuses on the unfortunate love triangle between Cyrano, Roxane, and Christian, as well as the many “triangles” formed by a non-conforming couple in a judgmental society. Through the character of Cyrano, with his perceived or real ugliness and his belief that he is unworthy of love, the play invites reflection on stereotypes and prejudices concerning love and disability.
While largely maintaining the original text, the performance shifts its focus to parallels with contemporary society, exploring how “diversity” is perceived and the right for all to a sexual and emotional life. The Teatro a Rotelle troupe approached Cyrano’s story with great enthusiasm, finding the theme immediately compelling. After discussions and exchanges, they developed a script that speaks of hopes, loves, disappointments, abilities, disabilities, and the gaze of a society steeped in judgment and prejudice. The evocative, poetic, and sharp language of the original text is blended with moments of more contemporary theatre, creating a multi-layered performance. The “triangles” in the play symbolize both romantic entanglements—a him, a her, and another—and the experience of a non-conforming couple in a judgmental society.
During the first visit of the Advisory Board for the Excellence Project, the winning design for the “Inclusive Humanities” logo was unveiled on Tuesday, 5 December. The logo was created by Cooperativa Yeah, a branch of the Social Cooperative QUID Onlus, which specializes in providing services for accessibility and the inclusion of people with disabilities. This cooperative also designed the graphic layout of the Inclusive Humanities website.
The logo, projected on a screen, was selected as the winning version from a set of designs created specifically by Cooperativa Yeah. It was voted on by the entire staff (faculty, technical and administrative staff, and PhD students) of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures.
The visual identity of Inclusive Humanities centres on the letter “H”, the primary focus of the humanities, which encompass the various aspects of culture, society, and the human condition—including foreign languages and literatures. The “H” is composed of numerous “i”s, reflecting the initial letter of the word inclusive.
On 4-5 December, 2023, the first visit of the Advisory Board of the Excellence Project took place, marking an important step in the development of goals and the assessment of the progress of initiatives within the project “Inclusive Humanities: Development Perspectives in the Research and Teaching of Foreign Languages and Literatures” (2023-2027).
The Advisory Board (or AB for short) is a body established to supervise the progress of the project’s goals. It consists of external experts of outstanding international standing who provide scientific oversight for the project and ensure an effective and continuous system of monitoring and integrated evaluation. The members of the Advisory Board for Inclusive Humanities are:
Prof. Elena Di Giovanni (University of Macerata),
Prof. Anna Cardinaletti (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice),
Prof. Shulamit Almog (University of Haifa, Israel),
Prof. Gerhard Lauer (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany).
Each year, the coordinators of the activities within the Excellence Project report to the members of the Advisory Board on the work carried out and receive their suggestions. This first meeting, held in the Co-working Room with the faculty of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures present, was particularly significant as it represented the first in-person encounter with the AB members.
Over the course of the two days, all projects and sub-projects conducted within the framework of “Inclusive Humanities” in their respective areas of development were presented. The event concluded with a debate, offering an opportunity for exchange and useful feedback. There were also more “recreational” activities, such as a visit to the Biblioteca Capitolare of Verona and attendance at the theatrical performance “Con Voce Nuova_L’Inferno di Dante” by the Emit Flesti Company of Trento at the Camploy Theater, part of Festivabìlia, a theatre festival featuring companies connected to the world of disability, promoted by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures of the University of Verona.
On Thursday, 30 November, the press conference for the presentation of Festivabìlia – Theatre of Potential Abilities was held in the Sala degli Specchi at Palazzo Giuliari. Festivabìlia is a theatre festival featuring companies connected to the world of disability. The first edition of Festivabìlia coincides with the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which takes place on December 3. The festival offers performances, meetings, and events that reflect on the body as a tool for communicating with others: in the case of disabilities, the body challenges prejudices and forces a conceptual, cultural, and social rethinking.
The first edition of Festivabìlia was presented by Massimiliano Badino, the rector’s inclusion advisor, Roberta Facchinetti, director of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Manuel Boschiero, professor of Slavic Studies and inclusion representative of the department, director Nicoletta Vicentini, and Davide Bonfante, president of the Teatro a Rotelle association.
The festival, sponsored by the City of Verona and the ESU of Verona, is part of the activities of the “Inclusive Humanities” Excellence Project of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. This project aims to promote inclusion in research and teaching, to eliminate social, cultural, and economic disparities both within and outside the university. The project has received five years of funding amounting to approximately 6.5 million euros. The department in Verona is one of five departments in this field of research that have been recognized for the second time as a “department of excellence” by the Ministry.
The Teatro a Rotelle company was founded in 2016 thanks to a collaboration between a group of students, the Office of Inclusion and Accessibility, theatre director Nicoletta Vicentini, and Professor Massimo Salgaro from the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. Today, the company includes about 20 students united by their passion for theatre and their desire to have fun by playfully blending their potential abilities. The word “rotelle” (wheels) in the name, while referring to disabilities, also evokes the wheels of the brain, constantly turning to make room for creativity.
A first meeting took place on Thursday, 23 November, with the preview presentation of Festivabìlia during the study day Inclusion on Stage: A Comparison of Inclusive Theatre Experiences. The festival will officially open on 4 December at 8:30 pm at Teatro Camploy with the company Emit Flesti from Trento, presenting the show Con voce nuova, l’inferno di Dante (With a New Voice: Dante’s Inferno). The festival continues on 6 December at 4:30 pm in room Smt. 06 of the Santa Marta complex with Making Music Inclusively: All-in Rock – The Integrated Concert Told by the Organizers and on 11 December at 4 pm, also at Santa Marta, with Self Help: The Utopia of the Mad – From Invisible to Citizen, a presentation of the book by psychiatrist Paolo Vanzini (Gabrielli Editore, 2022).
The festival continues on Wednesday, 13 December, at Teatro Camploy with the performance Triangoli, a contemporary reinterpretation of Cyrano de Bergerac, performed by the Teatro a Rotelle group from the University of Verona. On 18 December at 4 pm at Santa Marta, there will be a presentation titled I Fiori Blu: Musicateatro, an interdisciplinary journey of musical and theatrical training led by director Martina Palmieri. The final event will take place on 19 December at 8:30 pm at Camploy with the Gruppo Elettrogeno from Bologna performing the show Amuri.
All events and performances are free and open to the public.
