'Water-Cultures' organised two international conferences, two international workshops, and one project-based workshop, leading to book-length publications, either published, in press or forthcoming. The first of the international conferences was held in Naples in Sept. 2022 (image1) and was devoted to the substantial manuscript of the 'fountainer and water engineer' Giovanni Antonio Nigrone and his sociocultural milieu. PDRA Bruno produced an edited and annotated transcription of his manuscript held in the National Library in Naples, published by Viella, as volume 1 (image2), whilst a selection of specially re-worked essays from the conference was also published by Viella, as volume 2 (eds. PDRA Bruno and PI Gentilcore; image3).
With 48 speakers, the project’s International Conference (Sept. 2023, images 4,5) presented a snapshot of this burgeoning field and an excellent opportunity for networking, and allowed us to showcase the project's advisory board. Given the large scope of the conference and the variety of subjects covered, we took the difficult decision not to publish the proceedings, but to concentrate on publishing material from our three workshops.
The first of these brought together project Streams 2,4 & 5 and explored the history of rice cultivation, commerce and culture (image6). Taking water provision and access rights as its starting point, it provided a unique perspective on the social, economic, cultural and scientific lives of rice in Europe and the expanded Mediterranean from the 15th to the 20th centuries. The volume, edited by PDRAs Scuro and Maddaluno, is currently in press with Bloomsbury. The second international workshop, The Longue Durée of Sanitation, was organised by PDRA Valenti (image7). It brought together Streams 2,3 & 5, to analyse the evolution of knowledge, infrastructure, practices and perceptions in European and Mediterranean cities during the early- and late-modern periods. An edited volume of selected essays is under contract with Bloomsbury, edited by PDRA Valenti and PI Gentilcore.
A third workshop, held in Florence (Oct. 2024), brought together all Streams and all team members -- PDRAs, PhDs and one former Marie Curie fellow, Giacomo Savani, associated with the project -- as well as the advisory board. Following a second, follow-up workshop (spring 2025), the results will be published as an edited volume, to be entitled 'The Water Cultures of Italy' (forthcoming with Bloomsbury).
Two initial team-building seminars held in 2021 (image8) were followed by the ongoing project seminar series. Organised by the team PDRAs, it met monthly and featured distinguished speakers from around Italy and Europe (images 9-13). We also held two outreach activites for the broader public to mark World Water Day, in 2023 and 2024, held at Ca' Foscari's New Institute Centre for the Environmental Humanities (NICHE) (image14).
Finally, the project sponsored additional conferences and conference panel sessions. The essays of the 'Bodies of Water' workshop (Cambridge Jan. 2023; image16) are in press for a special issue of the 'Notes and Records of the Royal Society' (2026). We organised panels at a range of national and international meetings, including 'Scientiae' (Prague 2023; Istanbul 2025), the Società italiana di storia ambientale (Catania 2022; Naples 2024), and the European Social Science History Conference (Gothenberg 2023; Leiden 2025).
