Oral and Written Cultures in Early Modern Italy

Our conference investigated how Italian oral culture was related to written culture in this period and how far it was independent of writing. It allowed the members of the project team to both share the results of their own research and to engage with other experts in the field. Recordings of a selection of papers from the the first morning of the conference can be heard below.

Download the conference programme (pdf), File Download Download the titles and abstracts of the panel papers (pdf), File Download

We would like to thank all those who contributed to the success of the conference both by presenting their own research and by participating in the lively and stimulating debate and discussion throughout the conference.

Particular thanks to our plenary speakers who gave a series of insightful and engaging lectures on a huge variety of subjects in relation to the theme of our conference:

Peter Burke (University of Cambridge): Oral and Written Cultures in Early Modern Italy

Elizabeth Cohen (York University, Toronto): Moving Words: Everyday Oralities and Social Dynamics in Roman Trials

Thomas Cohen (York University, Toronto): Vox populi: Speaking as a popolo to Political Effect

Robert Kendrick (University of Chicago): Litanies, Falsobordone, and Recitation: Improvised Sonic Prayer in Early Modern Italy

Rob Henke (Washington University in St Louis): When Worlds Meet: Cheap Print,
Piazza/Banquet Performance, and Organized Theatre in Early Modern Italy

Françoise Waquet (CNRS, Paris): Non solo libri: l'oralità dei letterati

Please consult our Publications page for information on publications resulting from the conference and other research events.

Conference Recordings

With the kind permission of our speakers, a selection of papers in English and Italian from the first morning of the conference can be heard or downloaded below. This provides some insight into the new research presented at the conference and the research currently being conducted by some of our own project fellows.

Non solo libri: l'oralità dei letterati

Plenary lecture in Italian by Professor Françoise Waquet (CNRS, Paris).

 

 Singing Songs of Execution in Early Modern Italy

Paper presented by Dr Una McIlvenna (University of Syndey) in a panel on street performance.

 

Aspetti pragmatici in un testo popolaresco di inizio Cinquecento: la Frottola de cento romiti di Marco Rosiglia

Paper presented by Dott. Matteo Largaiolli (Università di Trento) in a panel on street performance. A copy of his accompanying presentation can also be downloaded here: Dott. Largaiolli presentation

 

Dominion of the Ear: Memory, Improvisation, and the Performance of Vernacular Poetry at Piazza San Martino, Florence

Paper presented by Professor Blake Wilson (Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA) in a panel on street performance. The print version of this talk is now available as 'Dominion of the Ear: Singing the Vernacular in Piazza San Martino', I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance, 16 (2013), 273-87. A copy of his accompanying presentation can also be downloaded here: Prof. Wilson presentation

 

Musicians, Charlatans, Marginals: The Elusive Category of the ‘cantastorie’ in Renaissance Culture, Literature and Society

Joint paper presented by two of our research fellows Dr Massimo Rospocher and Dr Luca degl'Innocenti on the subject of street performers.