Circolo Gianicolense is a joint seminar series for young scholars at three foreign research institutions at the Gianicolo: The Norwegian Institute in Rome, The American Academy in Rome, and Institutum Romanum Finlandiae. Alternating between the three institutions, these seminars present current research in the field of ancient, medieval and early modern studies. Nastasya Kosygina (American Academy in Rome) and Antonino Nastasi (Norwegian Institute in Rome) will present in the upcoming seminar.
The seminar will be held in English.
About the lectures
Antonino Nastasi: Inscribing the Tiber’s Floods: An Overview of Latin Epigrams on Stone (1277–1870)
The Tiber’s floods posed a persistent threat to Rome until the construction of the riverbanks after the last great inundation in 1870. These natural disasters were often documented through inscriptions marking the level reached by the Tiber’s waters. This presentation focuses on a notable subset of 24 verse inscriptions, dating from 1277 to 1805. We will examine the metrical, formal, and linguistic features of these epigrams, along with their historical context and significance. A selection of texts is presented as a preview of an upcoming philological edition, illuminating the interplay between poetry, natural disasters, and Rome’s cityscape from the Middle Ages to the late Nineteenth century.
About the lecturers
Antonino Nastasi is an affiliate researcher at the Norwegian Institute in Rome. His research primarily focuses on Latin epigraphic production in contemporary Rome, starting from 1870, including the Fascist period, which is historically the most delicate and controversial. Nastasi has published a monograph and several articles on this subject, and he continues exploring the subject during his second doctoral program (Il corpus delle iscrizioni in latino di Roma Capitale – Dieci anni dopo. XL ciclo, Università di Roma – Tor Vergata). Additionally, Nastasi explores Latin epigraphy from the medieval and modern periods and, more broadly, the enduring legacy of Latin language and literature in the cultural tradition after classical antiquity.
Nastasya Kosygina is a PhD Candidate at the Program in Visual Studies, University of California, Irvine. She was awarded the Anthony M. Clark | Jesse Howard Jr. Rome Prize in Medival Studies, and will stay at the American Academy until the end of June 2026. Her PhD-project is called "Old Rome’s Floods and New Rome’s Earthquakes"