Founded in 1994 by Korean medievalist and comparatist I Deug-Su, the Center was established in 2019 by DFCLAM UNISI and DADR UNISTRASI. It promotes research in medieval and comparative literature, with a particular focus on the relationship with Eastern cultures and the development of digital technologies.
1. Medieval Culture
Its main projects include the Scrittori latini del medioevo europeo series (13 volumes published by Pacini Editore), which was awarded by the EACEA (European Commission), as well as the national critical editions of Latin epistolary writing from the 12th–13th centuries.
2. Korean literature and culture
Between 1994 and 2004, the Center edited the series Koreanische Literatur und Kultur. Since 2007, in collaboration with the Korea Foundation and the National University of Seoul, the Center has published the world premiere edition of Hagiographica Coreana: the acts (in Latin, Korean, and French) of the canonization of the 19th-century Korean martyrs, along with legal documentation and witness accounts.
3. Comparative Literature
The Center is a member of the Centro Semicerchio. Rivista di Poesia Comparata (Center Semicerchio Journal of Comparative Poetry), founded in 1986, is published by the Center. For 30 years, the journal has promoted a creative writing school (www.scuolasemicerchio.it) and numerous national and international conferences and seminars.
4. Digital Philology
The ALIM Archive of Italian Latin in the Middle Ages (alim.unisi.it) is the largest digital library of Italian Latin texts.
Lexicon is the first open-access text analyzer and lemmatizer of medieval Latin: www.lexicon.unisi.it.
IL CORPUS RHYTHMORUM MUSICUM. The result of a European project and two Italian PRIN projects, it is the first critical digital edition of Latin rhythmic poems set to music from the fourth to ninth centuries. It contains transcriptions and reproductions of the manuscripts, as well as audio recordings of the music: www.corimu.unisi.it.
DEMM: Digital Editing of Medieval Manuscripts (2015-2017): A European Educational and Research Project (www.digitalmanuscripts.eu).
ELA: The Eurasian Latin Archive (ela.unisi.it) is a library of Latin and Latin-Chinese or Latin-Japanese texts written in China, Japan, and Korea from the 13th to the 18th century. It has an interlinguistic search engine and text analyzer on Elasticsearch. This project is supported by the Tuscany Region and Quest.it. The Global Latin conference series is connected to ELA.
RAMMSES: Augmented Reality of Medieval Music in Siena and the Siena Area is a collaboration between the Municipal Library of Siena, the Region of Tuscany, Aidilab, and SISMEL.
5. Master's degree in Text Informatics
Since 2008, has had pilot teaching experience training specialists in digital editions of books and magazines, digital archives and libraries, the digitization of prints and manuscripts, cultural website design, and digital publishing processes. Has 50 agreements with Italian and foreign companies, institutions, and research organizations. Website: https://masterinfotext.unisi.it
RESOURCES
The Center has never requested or received funding from UNISI. Projects have received support from the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) (PRIN, INTERLINK), the European Commission (TMR, Ariane, Creative Culture, Erasmus/IP, Erasmus+/Key Action), the Italian-French University, and the Tuscany Region (ELA project, RAMMSES project), among others. The library and photo library are equipped with a microfilm viewer and house approximately 4,500 items.
STAFF
The Center's Executive Committee includes Profs. Almarai, Castellana, Del Toro, Jung, Stella (Director), Scaffai (Deputy Director), and Tonelli. Professors Ahn (Seoul), Bartoli, Bellomo, Digilio, Franco, Francini (Syracuse University), Lagomarsini, and Sangalli, as well as Dr. Carbé and various other Italian and foreign scholars, collaborate with the Center.
Director
Francesco Stella