Good knowledge of the historical development of civilisation from Antiquity to the contemporary period, with particular reference to Italy; sound knowledge of medieval, early modern and contemporary art history, together with Italian literature.

The course explores the history of collecting from the Middle Ages to the contemporary period. By examining the relationship between the history of art, taste and collecting. Students are introduced to the critical foundations of the concepts of museum, museography and museology. The museum is analysed through its historical development across the centuries, with particular attention to exemplary collectors, collections and case studies.

Knowledge and Understanding: students acquire an advanced knowledge of the history of collecting, the formation of museums and the historical, cultural and social development of the museum institution.

Applying Knowledge and Understanding: students apply museological methods and terminology to the critical analysis of museums, collections, exhibitions and heritage management.

Making Judgements: students develop independent critical judgement concerning museum models, heritage policies and contemporary museological issues.

Communication Skills: students present arguments clearly and accurately, employing appropriate scholarly terminology in both oral and written communication.

Learning Skills: students acquire the methodological tools required for independent study through the critical use of primary sources, specialist bibliography and museum documentation.

Lectures supported by PowerPoint presentations, case-study presentations.

Assessment consists of an oral examination designed to evaluate students' achievement of the learning outcomes. The examination assesses knowledge of the history of collecting and museum development, the ability to apply museological methodologies to case studies, independent critical judgement and the appropriate use of specialist terminology. Marks are awarded on the Italian thirty-point scale.

Exams appointments will be fixed in accordance to the suggested period by administrative staff of NWU.

The exam committee is composed of: Massimiliano Rossi (Chief), Daniela Caracciolo, Raffaele Casciaro (Members). Professor Massimiliano Rossi meets (online/in person) students by appointment mailing to massimiliano.rossi@unisalento.it.

Origins of collecting; medieval treasuries;

ecclesiastical and royal collections;

collections of Greek and Roman antiquities;

studioli and Wunderkammern;

High Renaissances’s princely patronage;

scientific and natural history collections;

the transition from private collections to the public museum;

the Enlightenment and the birth of the modern museum; nineteenth-century museums;

twentieth-century developments.

Sources for the history of collecting, patronage and museology.

Attending students:

-Krzysztof Pomian, Collectors and Curiosities. Paris and Venice 1500–1800 (Polity, 1990).

-Francis Haskell, History and Its Images. Art and the Interpretation of the Past (Yale University Press, 1993).

Not - attending students should add: James Delbourgo – Nicholas Dew (eds.), Cultures of Collecting (Routledge, 2006).