Built on the experiences of various faculty members who were involved and active in cultural diplomacy and scientific projects, the Public and Cultural Diplomacy Master’s program is made up of students with diverse backgrounds, from social sciences to the humanities, and aims to improve student’s knowledge in the field of new international relations and cooperation. At the center of the program are two themes: the role of intercultural negotiation and the construction of institutions and, cultural policies at an international level.

Archaeology’s links to international relations are well known as a vital ambassadors of many countries’ official – but also sometimes unofficial – cultural policy abroad. Prof Stefano Campana delivers the course in “Cultural Diplomacy & Archaeology”.

The course is focused on the relationship between archaeology and cultural diplomacy but will also discuss the archaeological heritage of the Mediterranean, which is of international significance for all periods, and increasing threat from massive and sustained population explosion, agricultural development, urban expansion, warfare, and looting.

Fig 1 – On the left: the destruction of one of the anthropomorphic corbels that decorated the façade of the great Iwan (screenshot from the DAESH propaganda video released in June 2015); on the rigth, the same corbel after restoration and relocation in situ. 

The course will introduce students about all those threats and the approaches that we can implement to measure the amount of damages, monitor landscape transformations and implement

Case histories about partial or total destruction will be illustrated and discussed with the class, in particular: Nineveh, Mosul, Hatra, Samarra (Iraq), Ibo (Mozambique), Çatalhöyük (Turkey).

Fig 2 – Iraqi and Italian SavingHatra project team

The course is based on lectures, discussion of assigned readings and personal research by students who have the opportunity to write an essay aimed to analyse the connections between Cultural Diplomacy and Archaeology. Listed by academic year, PDFs of the papers written by students who have given their consent to online publication are available.

Class 2022-23

Class 2021-22

Class 2020-21