News
Farewell to Maria Roberta Novielli, the Driving Force of the Ca' Foscari Short Film Festival
We remember her through the words of Professor Piermario Vescovo: "Roberta Novielli was taken from us suddenly on the afternoon of 20 July, in the room next to the one where she had just finished speaking with one of her two beloved daughters. She had an extraordinary ability to move across disciplines, languages and fields of interest, driven by boundless curiosity and exceptional intellectual rigour. Roberta was also a determined fighter. Although her life was marked by difficulties and personal struggles, it was sustained by profound passion, remarkable intelligence and a distinctive lightness of spirit that characterised both her research and her relationships with others.
Call for Papers Crossing Lines, Entangling Histories: Eastern European Art and Aesthetic Theories in Italy, 1945–1991
Deadline: 31 July 2026
The aim of our symposium is twofold: on one hand we seek to investigate how art and aesthetic practices and theories from Eastern Europe were received, framed, contested, and circulated in Italy from 1945 to 1991. On the other, we wish to explore the understudied presence of artists and intellectuals from Eastern Europe in Italy, and to analyze their engagement with and critical transformation of Italian culture.
Interdisciplinary approaches are especially encouraged, including perspectives from art history, visual culture, aesthetics, cultural history, political history and theory, exhibition history museum studies, and media studies.
“Am I Building Their Future or Losing Them?”: 'Marie Curie' Fellow Syed Imran Haider Explores the Hidden Emotional World of Migrant Fathers
What does it mean to be a father when one's parental role is confined to the screen of a smartphone? Behind the numbers of migration lies an emotional reality that often remains invisible. The research project TFNMPC – Transnational Fatherhood, Negotiating Masculinity and Parental Care in the Digital Communication Era, hosted by the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage and supervised by Professor Francesco Della Puppa, explores transnational fatherhood and the lived experiences of Pakistani migrants in Italy.
AB ANTIQUO. European Architectural Culture and the Antiquities of the Eastern Adriatic
Organised within the framework of the ERC AdriArchCult project, the exhibition explores how the ancient cities of the Eastern Adriatic shaped European architecture between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, from Sebastiano Serlio and Andrea Palladio to Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and the Adam brothers. The exhibition will remain open until 13 August 2026 at the Sacred Hearts Museum and Exhibition Space in Pula (Croatia).
Our research
Research areas
The Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage (DFBC) encompasses four main research areas: philosophical science, art history, social science, and education.
Each of these areas contributes to the building of knowledge that is interdisciplinary, international, and characterised by critical thinking. Such knowledge embraces the various branches of philosophy (theoretical philosophy, the philosophy of logic, moral philosophy, political philosophy, aesthetics, the philosophy of language, the philosophy of science), as well as history of the arts (architecture, art, museum studies) and performing arts (music, theatre, dance, cinema, audiovisual media). It also engages with various pedagogical perspectives regarding education, and with the complex and profound changes happening in society, which require new and sustainable models of governance and development.
Our Department among the top Departments in Italy in terms of Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions funding in the fields of arts and humanities. We also host 9 European Research Council grantees. The decidedly interdisciplinary approach of our research makes the Department an ideal platform for project design at a national, European and international level.
P-AGE - Social Defence. Uncovering the Transnational Epistemology of the Punitive Age.
Principal Investigator: Xenia Manuela Chiaramonte
Length: 60 months (from 1/06/2025)
UnMaP - The Uncharted Margins of Philosophy: An AI-Enhanced Material History of Arabic Logic Across Time (12th-19th c.) and Frontiers (from Spain to India)
Principal Investigator: Silvia Di Vincenzo;
Length: 60 months (from 1/03/2025)
I-STREAM - Islands in the Stream: Climate-related Disasters and the Rhythms of Caribbean Music
Principal Investigator: Ofer Gazit;
Length: 60 months (from 1/11/2024)
The publications of the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage reflect the heterogeneous interests of its community. Most of the publications regard philosophy, art history, social sciences and education.
The Department also publishes articles on history, psychology, architecture, chemistry, mathematics and law, thanks to the expertise of some staff members. Publications are often interdisciplinary. The Department’s international outlook is resulting in the publication of an increasing number of articles in languages other than Italian. T
he bibliographic information regarding the Department’s publications can be accessed through ARCA, Ca’ Foscari’s open-access archive.