"E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle"

Tuesday, December 21, 2021 at 6pm
Villa Médicis, Grand Salon
Free event

In Italian (no translation)
To reserve your place, write to [email protected]
More information at this link

Discussion with Piero Boitani and Patrizia Caraveo, moderated by Marco Carminati.

Piero Boitani’s talk will focus in particular on Homer, the first author to “see the infinite stars shining in the dark”, and more generally on how poets and writers of all literatures have been enchanted by the starry sky. Dante in particular, who in the Comedy turns to the stars at the beginning and end of the poem and at the end of each canticle. Everywhere, they light up the vaults of churches and mosques, illuminating a thousand masterpieces of painting. They inspire sublime music from Handel to Haydn, from Verdi to Wagner, as well as many contemporary compositions. Astrophysicist Caraveo will bring us closer to the firmament, revealing to the public the secrets of the stars after decades of study and observation.

Piero Boitani, Professor of Comparative Literature at La Sapienza, has taught Italian language and literature atCambridge University, where he also holds a doctorate. A Dantist, Anglicist and specialist in myths, the Bible and its rewritings, his latest book is entitled Il grande racconto delle stelle. In principio furono le stelle.

Patrizia Caraveo, an Italian astrophysicist, is a member of the International Astronomical Union. Her main field of study is the behavior of neutron stars at different wavelengths. She is responsible for the ASI contract to fund astrophysical activities linked to NASA’s GLAST (now Fermi) mission. She was vice-coordinator of the aerospace panel of the National Operational Program (PON). She is currently responsible for INAF’s participation in the Cherenkov telescope network.

HEALTH PASS
To take part in the conference, in accordance with the provisions of the decree of July 23, 2021, we kindly ask participants to present their valid health pass, accompanied by proof of identity.