Agenda

The first part of the event, entitled "Venice Underwater", will focus on the submerged dimension of the Venetian Lagoon and on recent developments in underwater archaeology. Dr Alessandro Asta (ABAP Superintendency for the Provinces of Padua, Treviso and Belluno) will discuss current activities and future perspectives in the protection of underwater archaeological heritage, while Professor Carlo Beltrame will present the results of the excavation of the submerged Roman-period site of Lio Piccolo (Cavallino-Treporti), an extraordinary testimony to the existence of an ostrearium vivarium in the Venetian Lagoon. The session will conclude with Professor Myriam Pilutti Namer, who will introduce the short film Nella quiete delle sabbie (In the Stillness of the Sands) by Alessandra Lancellotti (Caucaso), a visual reflection on the submerged landscape and the memories preserved beneath the lagoon's waters.

The second part of the event, introduced by Professor Martina Frank, will be devoted to the presentation of the volume "Ruskin Camera Eye. Sguardi su Venezia nel cinema indipendente 1975-2024", edited by Emma Sdegno (Pendragon, Bologna, 2026). The book explores the ways in which independent filmmakers have observed and reinterpreted Venice over the past fifty years, revealing not only its monumental beauty but also the social, environmental, and cultural transformations that shape the contemporary city. The volume will be discussed by professors Simone Francescato, Emanuele Morezzi, and Carlo Montanaro, who will offer historical, cinematic, and critical perspectives on the relationship between Venice and the moving image.

By bringing archaeology, cultural heritage, and cinema into dialogue, the event seeks to offer new perspectives on the complex identity of Venice, a city where the traces of the past, whether visible or submerged, continue to speak to the present and to inspire new forms of knowledge and storytelling.

The event will be dedicated to the memory of Maria Roberta Novielli, a distinguished scholar and teacher whose contribution to film studies and to the cultural life of Ca' Foscari University of Venice was both profound and lasting.