My research stems from a reflection by philosopher Aldo Masullo, who described cemeteries as ‘the most striking and desolate sign that our culture stands on a threshold from which it cannot retreat, yet upon which it is equally impossible to linger’. How can we interpret this threshold today? Can we still inhabit it critically, restoring meaning to places that contemporary society often relegates to oblivion or urban marginality? Starting from these questions, my work investigates the processes of re-signification that have affected — and continue to shape — nineteenth-century Italian cemeteries. It traces their transformation from sepulchral spaces into multifunctional environments that integrate memorial, artistic, and socio-cultural dimensions. Two main directions guide the research. The first examines how cemeteries were narrated and perceived in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century travel writing and guidebooks: how did they evolve from marginal curiosities to destinations of what we now call cemetery tourism? The second explores contemporary tendencies: while nineteenth-century cemeteries were integral to urban life, the post–World War II period marked a shift towards standardised, functional architectures, reflecting a loss of symbolic and artistic intention. This transition reveals a broader cultural impoverishment in the ways death and memory are represented. Against this backdrop, my research asks whether historical cemeteries can be reimagined as curatorial and experimental spaces — not merely sites of remembrance but active laboratories of artistic and civic engagement. Through a dialogue between art history, heritage studies, and curatorial practices, it seeks to understand how these ‘cities of the dead’ might once again become vital agents within the living fabric of the contemporary city.
Venneri, G (2025) ‘Rappresentare, narrare e dissimulare il “fiero morbo”. Testimonianze scultoree ed epigrafiche negli spazi della memoria’, in G. Rasca (ed) L’influenza della guerra. La memoria rimossa della ‘spagnola’, Bologna: Luca Sossella Editore, 165-178.
Venneri, G. (2024) ‘In transito. Riflessioni sulla “ri-museificazione” del patrimonio funerario attraverso le vicende espositive dei monumenti Andersen e Bonzagni’ in G. Amapani, A. Bartuccio, C. Ferrari & V. Tamani (eds) Patrimoni in movimento. Vendite, spoliazioni, lasciti, donazioni, atti del convegno, Parma-Modena, 9-10 Maggio 2024, 22-33.
