Adriana Paolini

Adriana Paolini graduated on 14 March 1991 with a master's thesis on Scrittura e cultura a San Liberatore a Maiella nell'Alto Medioevo (Writing and culture in San Liberatore a Maiella in the early middle ages), at the University 'G. D'Annunzio' in Chieti (supervisor Prof. Luigi Pellegrini, co-advisor Prof. Corrado Bologna). In this thesis, she reconstructed the library of the Cassinese priory of San Liberatore (Pescara) by identifying the titles indicated in an 11th century inventory preserved in the Archive of the Abbey of Montecassino. In 1993 she won the PhD selection process "Storia della Chiesa medievale e movimenti ereticali" (History of the Medieval Church and Heretical Movements) of the University of Padova and on 5 May 1998 she obtained the doctorate with a dissertation entitled Il monastero abruzzese di Vallebona: dai Pulsanesi ai Celestini (The Vallebona monastery in Abruzzo: from Pulsanesi to the Celestini; PhD supervisor prof. Grado G. Merlo, PhD coordinator prof. Antonio Rigon)

She is lecturer of Palaeography/Codicology (M/STO-09) at the Department of Humanities, University of Trento since 2004. From 2004 to 2009 as part of the Bachelor's degree course and from 2009 to 2022 as part of the Master's degree course she has been engaged in teaching (30 hours per year), conducting likewise examinations and assisting students and undergraduates.

In 2022, she qualified as associate professor in the habilitation procedure of the competition sector: SSD M-STO/09, SC 11/A4. Since 1 March 2023, she has been a researcher (B) at the Department of Humanities and Philosophy at the University of Trento.

Medieval Manuscripts
Writings and Manuscripts of the 16th Century
Medieval Fragments
Biblical manuscripts (especially 12-13th cent.)

For the research required for her bachelor and PhD dissertations, she studied unpublished documents preserved in the Archive of the Abbey of Montecassino. Likewise, she consulted medieval manuscripts probably from Abruzzo, conserved in the Vatican Library. She has continued her research activity by focusing on the history of written culture and studied medieval manuscripts by strengthening methodologies and approaches of the disciplines of palaeography and codicology to examine trends in the production, use and circulation of manuscript books.

The first stage of her subsequent research project included the cataloguing of the medieval manuscripts heritage preserved in the cultural institutes of the province of Trento. The cataloguing, performed according to the Norme per i collaboratori dei Manoscritti datati d’Italia (Standards for Contributors of Dated Manuscripts of Italy; eds. by T. De Robertis, N. Giovè Marchioli, R. Miriello, M. Palma and S. Zamponi, Padua 2007), has led to the publication of two catalogues, the first dedicated to the manuscripts preserved in the municipal Library of Trento and the second one on the manuscripts kept in the other cultural institutes of Trentino.

Seen her activities included in the University's Third Mission to promote a conscious perception of culture and the distribution of knowledge, she designed and curated several exhibitions of historical manuscripts and rare books. In 2021 she collaborated with the Biblioteca Malatestiana in Cesena on the exhibition "Per Dante Alighieri: testi, commenti, imitazioni e difese", also with an educational aim and training activities for the library staff (Doc. 28). Furthermore, she focused on innovative and adapted methodological proposals for teaching of the history of writing and of book sciences in academic, professional and education contexts through collaborations with the Istituto centrale per il catalogo unico, the Associazione Nazionale Archivistica Italiana, the Associazione italiana Biblioteche and other regional and provincial institutions, organised and performed likewise training courses for librarians, archivists and teachers. 

In order to strengthen this topic, she was invited as speaker at various national and international conferences, including the seminar "I beni culturali della scuola: problemi di conservazione e di valorizzazione" (School cultural heritage: issues of conservation and enhancement), organised by the Centro di ricerca interdipartimentale per lo studio e la valorizzazione dei beni culturali scolastici e educativi of the University of Pavia in 2007 and at the Conference organised by IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) in Antwerp in 2012, where she contributed with the paper Writings and books. History and stories to enhance rare books collections and to promote reading, in Ambassadors of the Book. Competences and Training for Heritage Librarians, ed. by R. Mouren, Berlin, De Gruyter-Saur (IFLA publications 160), pp. 177-184. She has published different articles on this argument.

In 2021 and in 2022, she had a teaching assignment (25 hours) from SPES (School of Palaeography and History) of the Centro Studi Santa Rita da Viterbo for the "Introduction to the Study of Medieval Manuscripts" course.

In 2023 she founded Digiti. A handwritten journal: published every six months, the journal is the result of an educational project dedicated to the development of the potential of communication through handwriting and is produced by students, PhD students and lecturers of the Department of Humanities and Philosophy of the University of Trento. The journal is in digital version and can be consulted on the Teseo platform that hosts series and scientific journals published by the University of Trento publishing house according to the principles of open access (https://teseo.unitn.it/digiti).

In 2024, he designed and curated the exhibition 'Science & Beauty. Le orchidee nei libri di Ulisse Aldrovandi', held in Bologna, in the University Library, from 20 January to 23 March.