A Research Project of the University of Naples on the Discovery of Medieval Art while Looking for Antiquities between the 17th and the Early 19th Centuries,

The article critically discusses the outcome of a research project entitled £The Discovery of Medieval Art while Looking for Antiquities. Perception of Medieval Heritage by European Travellers to Southern Italy and Central Mediterranean Countries, 17th-19th centuries" (DIOMEDA), carried out between 2022 and 2024 at the Università di Napoli Federico II with the financial support of the Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo. The project aimed to identify and analyse texts written by European travellers who explored the Mediterranean countries in search of traces of classical civilisation, but encountered the art of the Middle Ages, nearly always unexpectedly. This research sought to understand the cultural and intellectual framework that enabled these erudite travellers to discover the artistic and monumental legacy of the Middle Ages, preluding the birth of history of medieval art as an academic discipline during the first half of the 19th century.