- The CaNaMEI Project: Rediscovering Ancient Ethiopian Manuscripts in Italian Libraries
- Conferences and Public Engagement Activities
- Reports
- Team members
The CaNaMEI Project: Rediscovering Ancient Ethiopian Manuscripts in Italian Libraries
CaNaMEI (= Catalogo Nazionale dei Manoscritti Etiopici in Italia) is a project jointly funded by the IPOCAN, Istituto per l’Oriente “Carlo Alfonso Nallino”, and by the ISMEO “Associazione Internazionale di Studi sul Mediterraneo e l’Oriente”. The project is headquartered in the Dipartimento Asia, Africa e Mediterraneo of the Università di Napoli “L’Orientale”. The Coordinator is Prof. Dr Gianfrancesco Lusini, assisted by Dr Massimo Villa (PhD, UNO-Napoli), by Dr Jacopo Gnisci (PhD, British Museum and University of Oxford), and by the restorer Dr Gioia Bottari (MA). The CaNaMEI project has a three-fold aim: to bring to light and catalogue a number of small- and medium-sized collections of Gəʿəz and Amharic manuscripts still kept in Italian libraries and cultural institutions; to promote and support the appreciation and preservation of these objects in their setting through appropriate restoration and presentation; and to digitize, store, and publish them online to ensure maximum exposure and accessibility.
The first CaNaMEI scientific mission was carried out in the course of 2019 at the Museo Archeologico e d’Arte della Maremma (MAAM) of Grosseto, Tuscany, which houses a 15th–early 16th century illuminated Ethiopic Gospel book on permanent loan from Archbishopric of Grosseto. The newly discovered manuscript (inv. 191) – 340 x 260 x 100 mm, 179 folios, with wooden boards – provides an exquisite example of the art of calligraphy and illumination in medieval Ethiopia. An ongoing codicological, philological and art-historical study of the manuscript will examine the contribution of this witness to the text-critical reconstruction of the Gəʿəz New Testament and to our understanding of the history of Ethiopic Gospel books illumination.
In consultation with the relevant offices of the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio, a restoration of the manuscript has been performed, returning the object to its original splendour. This intervention was made possible by the financial support of the MIUR project “Studi e Ricerche sulle culture dell’Asia e dell’Africa: tradizione e continuità, rivita-lizzazione e divulgazione”, headed by IPOCAN and ISMEO. The next phase of the project will aim to digitize the manuscript and put it on display in one of the rooms of the MAAM as a remarkable example of the art of manuscript making in Ethiopia.
Museo Archeologico e d’Arte della Maremma of Grosseto, inv. 191, ff. 67v–68r (photo G. Lusini, 2018)
The CaNaMEI project carried out a second scientific mission in 2020 at the Archivio Storico of the Archbishopric of Savona (Liguria), where a 15th–early 16th century magnificent Gädlä Sämaʿətat, or ‘Acts of the martyrs’, is now located, following a private donation. The large-size manuscript (not yet inventoried) – 493 x 375 x 150 mm, 211 folios, with wooden boards – is a deluxe codex, enriched by gorgeous ḥaräg-ornaments opening many of the commemorative readings. The codicological, philological and art-historical study of this artefact is also in progress.
Archivio Storico of the Archbishopric of Savona, f. 1v–2r (photo CaNaMEI 2020)
As in the case of the Gospel book of Grosseto, the restoration and the digitalization of the Gädlä Sämaʿətat of Savona will be performed in the course of the year 2020, through financing from the same MIUR project headed by IPOCAN and ISMEO. According to the project schedule, the detailed description of the two codices, with particular emphasis on their material, textual, iconographic features and state of preservation, will be the object of a volume planned and edited by the CaNaMEI research team. Finally, these manuscripts, together with other objects preserved in several Italian libraries and cultural institutions, will be displayed in an exhibition devoted to the production and illustration of the codex in Christian Ethiopia.
(from Rassegna di Studi Etiopici, 3a serie (LI), 4 (2020), pp. 175–77)
Conferences and Public Engagement Activities
16/01/2023
PhD Study Days, University of Naples L’Orientale, Naples.
PhD study days held at the University of Naples L’Orientale. Title of the speech: “La codicologia etiopica come scienza storica. Indagini e ricerche su alcuni capolavori dell’arte del libro in Africa”.
Speaker: Gioia Bottari.
Programme 
28/09/2022
21st International Conference of Ethiopian Studies (ICES21)
“Persistence and Resilience in Ethiopian Studies: Global Context and Domestic Developments”, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.
International conference held at the Addis Ababa University. Title of the speech: “Catalogo Nazionale dei Manoscritti Etiopici in Italia (CaNaMEI): Documentation and Restoration of the Ethiopian Manuscript Heritage in Italy”.
Speakers: Gianfrancesco Lusini, Massimo Villa, Gioia Bottari.
13/09/2022
Press conference to present the restoration of three codices of the Mordini Collection and the digitization project of the Ethiopian manuscripts of the Biblioteca Palatina, Complesso Monumentale della Pilotta, Parma.
Press conference to present the digitization project of the forty-five Ethiopian manuscripts kept at the Biblioteca Palatina in Parma and the restoration of three codices of the Mordini Collection.
Speakers: Gianfrancesco Lusini, Massimo Villa, Gioia Bottari.
• Flyer
• TGR RAI Emilia Romagna
Articles related to the event and restoration:
• Agenzia ANSA
• tg24 SKY
• Complesso Pilotta
• la Repubblica
• la Repubblica (immagini)
01/07/2022
EVOA2022 Conference
“Egitto e Vicino Oriente antichi: tra passato e futuro”, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome.
Conference held at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. Title of the speech: “Dalla pergamena al pixel (e ritorno): il contributo italiano alla salvaguardia delle biblioteche storiche d’Eritrea e d’Etiopia”.
Speaker: Gianfrancesco Lusini.
Programme
22/06/2022
“Between Artifacts and Manuscripts: The Activities of the University of Naples L’Orientale in Ethiopia. Works in progress and future prospects”, Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University.
Conference held at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University. Title of the speech: “Fieldwork Research and Manuscript Cataloguing: The Philological Activities of the University of Naples L’Orientale at the Service of the Ethiopian Cultural Heritage (2019–2022)”.
Speaker: Massimo Villa.
Programma
02/12/2021
Study Day “Il Catalogo Nazionale dei Manoscritti Etiopici in Italia (CaNaMEI)”, The Italian Geographical Society, Villa Celimontana, Rome.
Study day at the headquarters of the Italian Geographical Society (Villa Celimontana, Rome), with an exhibition of the Ethiopian manuscript of the Acts of the Martyrs (15th-16th century) from the Savona-Noli Diocesan Historical Archive. Presentation of the CaNaMEI project, current initiatives and research prospects.
Speakers: Gianfrancesco Lusini, Massimo Villa, Gioia Bottari, Jacopo Gnisci.
• Flyer and programme
• YouTube
• TGR RAI Liguria
Articles related to the event and restoration:
• Savona News
• Chiesa Savona (1)
• Chiesa Savona (2)
12/10/2020
Study Days “I fondi orientali conservati presso le istituzioni culturali di Roma”, Società Geografica Italiana, Villa Celimontana, Rome.
Study day at the Società Geografica Italiana (Villa Celimontana, Rome). Title of the speech: “Il Catalogo Nazionale dei Manoscritti Etiopici in Italia: primi risultati e nuovi obiettivi”.
Speaker: Gianfrancesco Lusini.
• Flyer and programme
• YouTube
09/07/2020
“L’Etiopia, un’antica chiesa cristiana d’Africa”, San Lorenzo Cathedral, Grosseto.
Public event to present the Ethiopian Tetravangelion, held in the Cathedral of San Lorenzo, Grosseto. Presentation of the CaNaMEI project.
Speakers: Gianfrancesco Lusini, Massimo Villa, Gioia Bottari.
• Flyer and programme
• YouTube
• YouTube (presentation of the restoration work)
Articles related to the event and restoration:
• La Nazione
• Il Tirreno
• Comune di Grosseto
• Toscana Oggi (1)
• Toscana Oggi (2)
• Toscana Oggi (3)
• Diocesi di Grosseto
12/10/2020
A presentation of the CaNaMEI project held in Rome, Società Geografica Italiana, on the occasion of the Conference: I fondi orientali conservati presso le istituzioni culturali di Roma, 12 October 2020.
Report 1: Grosseto, Museo Archeologico e d’Arte della Maremma - Museo Diocesano d’Arte Sacra. Tetraevangelo. Napoli, UniorPress, 2020.
Report 2: G. Lusini, G. Bottari, J. Gnisci, M. Villa, Manoscritti Etiopici della città di Roma. La collezione Zanasi-Li Volsi. Napoli, UniorPress, 2021
Report 3: G. Lusini, G. Bottari, J. Gnisci, M. Villa, Savona, Archivio Storico Diocesano. Atti dei Martiri. Napoli, UniorPress, 2022
Gianfrancesco Lusini, PhD
glusini@unior.it
Gianfrancesco Lusini is Full Professor for Gəʿəz and Amharic Languages and Literatures at the University of Naples “L’Orientale”. He is the editor of the journal “Rassegna di Studi Etiopici” and of the series “Studi Africanistici. Serie Etiopica”. Alexander von Humboldt fellow (2001–2002, Hamburg University), and Visiting Professor of the Addis Ababa University (since 2014), he is the director of the “Centro di Studi sull’Africa” at the “Dipartimento Asia, Africa e Mediterraneo” of the University of Naples “L’Orientale”.
Massimo Villa, PhD
m.villa@unior.it
Massimo Villa is a Research fellow at the University of Naples “L’Orientale”. He has been member of the projects “Ethio-SPaRe” (2014–2015) and “Beta maṣāḥǝft: Manuscripts of Ethiopia and Eritrea” (2016–2018) at the Hiob Ludolf Centre for Ethiopian Studies (HLCES), Hamburg University. He is currently carrying out research activities in the field of the literature of translation from Greek to Classical Ethiopic. He is also involved in research projects aiming at cataloguing several Ethiopic manuscript collections preserved in European institutions. His monograph “Filologia e linguistica dei testi gəʿəz di età aksumita. Il Pastore di Erma” has been published in 2019.
Jacopo Gnisci, PhD
jacopo.gnisci@classics.ox.ac.uk
Jacopo Gnisci is a Lecturer in the Art and Visual Cultures of the Global South at UCL. He previously worked as a Project Curator at the British Museum and as a Getty Fellow and Research Associate at the University of Oxford. He has also held positions at other institutions including the Vatican Library, Hamburg University, SOAS, and The Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History. He has been awarded several grants, including a TORCH Heritage Seed Fund, contributed to several exhibitions on African and Ethiopian art, and has worked and collaborated with several museums and institutions such as the Dallas Museum of Art and the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford.
Gioia Bottari, MA
gioiabottari94@live.com
Gioia Bottari graduated in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. She is qualified to restore archival and book goods, paper artefacts, photographic, cinematographic and digital material.
