Conference "Confronti. Contatti culturali nell’Italia preromana"
Data evento 29/10/2026 - 30/10/2026
On 29 and 30 October, the Santa Maria della Scala museum complex in Siena hosts a two-day conference on cultural contacts between the peoples of the Italian peninsula before Rome.
The interactions between the peoples of the Italian peninsula, with particular attention to the transformations that took place in the first half of the 1st millennium BC, are at the heart of the conference Confronti. Contatti culturali nell’Italia preromana. Produzioni, metodi, scambi, hosted in the Sala Sant’Ansano of the Santa Maria della Scala museum complex in Siena.
Its aim is to examine and compare certain aspects of the Italic communities through the analysis of their productions, cultural contacts and mechanisms of exchange.
The conference is part of The Etruscans 85–25 project, the new season of exhibitions, events, conferences and publications with which the Tuscany Region marks forty years since the 1985 Progetto Etruschi. “Confronti” returns to that civilisation with a wider view: Etruria is read alongside the other peoples of pre-Roman Italy, through the objects, productions and exchanges that connected them.
Programme
The conference is organised in three sessions.
The first, on the morning of 29 October, is chaired by Luca Cappuccini (University of Florence). It includes talks on the Po Valley, the necropolis of Chiavari in pre-Roman Liguria, the production of transport amphorae in Pisa, exchanges in Volterra during the Orientalising period and the bucchero pottery of Roselle.
The second session, on the afternoon of 29 October, is chaired by Lisa Rosselli (University of Pisa). Its talks cover the economy of Falerii, transhumance routes between the Umbrians and the Etruscans, pottery in pre-Roman Marche and Abruzzo, and forms of exchange and xenía between Etruria and Sardinia in the Early Iron Age.
The third session, on the morning of 30 October, is chaired by Andrea Zifferero (University of Siena). It looks at the tripod-stand from Sassi Grossi at Roselle, the flabellum as a symbol of power in central Italy, the cult of Athena in Campania, Pontecagnano and Monte Vetrano, and Calabria in the 1st millennium BC. The session closes with a talk on depictions of the Trojan epic on Corinthian pottery found in Etruria and southern Italy.
Information
Where: Siena, Santa Maria della Scala museum complex, Sala Sant’Ansano
When: 29 and 30 October 2026, from 10:00
Contact: convegnoconfronti@gmail.com