Project MEDIEVAL CITY. CITY OF FRIARS
In the European city of the thirteenth century, the settlement of the convent communities of the mendicant Orders provokes a revolution from the social and urban point of view. The development of the city, in fact, will be profoundly influenced by the foundation of convents in the outlying areas where the future development of the new villages is born. The crown of convents around the city center constitutes a network of urban nodes for the expansion routes, but also a place for exchanging ideas and people.
The research project MEDIEVAL CITY. CITY OF FRIARS, funded by the 2018 AISU Networking Call for Proposal and the Medieval Heritage Platform project (Politecnico di Torino DIST), was conceived to resume studies on the relationship between convents of mendicant orders (especially Preachers and Friars Minor) and cities in the Italian and European context.
In the debate the dialogue between the disciplines and the methodological renewal will be fundamental, through the integration of traditional documentary and material analysis with stratigraphic analysis and digital history techniques. One of the aims of the project is to create a network of scholars on themes related to the medieval city and to the conventual settlements in order to create opportunities for meeting and sharing common studies and research also in the European context. This seminar, the first public occasion of the project, proposes, through a series of reports held by experts from different disciplines and a debate in which young scholars will also participate, to highlight themes of study, critical issues and research proposals for future activities.