I am a classicist, archaeologist and numismatist with a strong academic record and several skills in teaching, coin cataloging, archival research, numismatic journalism and 2-years’ experience in commercial archaeology. My principal fields of research comprise the history of Sicilian archaeology (cultural heritage, antiquarianism, collecting and excavations) and numismatics.

I am currently working as an ERC 'Marie Skłodowska-Curie' Research Fellow at Ghent University (project: Cultural Heritage in Danger: Archaeology and Communities in Sicily during the Second World War (1940–45)). My research seeks to understand the impact of WW2 on Sicilian antiquities, including archaeological sites and museums.

I have previously worked as a 'Research Fellow' at the University of Warwick (2016-19) within the ERC Token Communities in the Ancient Mediterranean project and researching on tokens found in Sicily (archaeological contexts, iconographies and history of antiquarian collecting), and 'Teaching Assistant' and 'Specialist Mentor' at the University of Leicester (2012-16).

My PhD Archaeology thesis, now revised and published as a monograph (Archaeopress 2018), focused on the history of archaeology in northern Sicily during the post-Unification period (1861-1918), exploring historical and social contexts, the evolution of discipline between 19th and 20th centuries and the impact of archaeology on local communities. This research is a direct continuation of my monograph on northern Sicily archaeology during the Bourbon period (1816-1860) (BAR 2012).

I am also the official numismatist of Calvatone-Bedriacum and Tadmor-Palmyra excavations (University of Milan).

Projects

Projects as postdoc

Cultural heritage in danger. Archaeology and communities in Sicily during the Second World War, 1940-45 (2019 - 2021)

Publications

Most recent publications

Full bibliography

Activities

Select Conference Papers

2018 ‘World History Association Conference’, 21-23 June 2018 (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA): Not ‘banal’ material culture: ancient tokens, daily life and religion in Hellenistic and Roman Sicily (22-06-18).

2018 ‘AIAC/ICCA XIX Congress’, 22-26 May 2018 (Cologne/Bonn, Germany): Religion, micro-economies and divinities reproduction on small tesserae in Roman Sicily (26-05-18).

2018 ‘AIA/SCS Meeting’, 4-7 January 2018 (Boston, MA, US): The sacred twins even on tokens: the role of Dioskuroi at the ancient Tyndaris (Messina – Sicily) (07-01-18).

2017 ‘Association of the Ancient Historians Annual Meeting’, Brown University, 04-07 May 2017 (Providence, Rhode Island, USA): To be or not to be a coin? Ancient tokens in Italy as an economic source and the representation of local communities (05-05-17).

2017 Classical Association Conference’, University of Kent, 26-29 April 2017 (Canterbury, UK): Shaping a national and regional identity in Sicily through Classical Archaeology: the island’s culture heritage between the Bourbon and the Kingdom of Italy (1816-1918) (28-04-17).

2017 ‘60th Missouri History Valley Conference’, Magnolia Hotel, 02-04 March 2017 (Omaha, NE, USA): New photographs from the past: revealing excavations and social contexts in Sicily between nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (03-03-2017).

2016 ‘Classical Association of the Atlantic States (CAAS) Fall Meeting’, The Heldrich Conference Center, 20-22 October 2016 (New Brunswick, NJ, USA): Being on Cori’s trail at ‘Ratae Corieltavorum’: Latin/Archaeology clubs and outreach activity at Leicester local K-12 schools (United Kingdom) (22-10-2016).

2016 ‘Museums in the Global Contemporary: Debating the Museum of Now. 50th Anniversary Conference’, School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester, 20-22 April 2016 (Leicester, UK): From Salinas (a director) to “Salinas” (a museum): The ongoing evolution of the Museum of Palermo in the Italian context (1861–2015) (22-04-16).

2015 ‘XV International Numismatic Congress’, 21-25 September 2015 (Taormina, Italy): Collecting coins and connecting collectors: government and social networks in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1816-1860) (24-09-15).

2015 AIA/SCS 146th Meeting, 8-11 January 2015 (New Orleans, LA, US): Above the law? Local priests and local archaeology in Sicily under the Kingdom of Italy (1861-1915) (11-01-15).

2014 AIA/APA 145th Meeting, 2-5 January 2014 (Chicago, IL, US): Politics and archaeology in post-Unification Sicily (1861–1915): new perspectives from records (03-01-14).

Invited Speaker

2018 Casa Italia Chicago, Italian Cultural Center (Chicago, IL, USA): A token for your thoughts: the lost and rediscovered world of token use in ancient Sicily (27-06-18).

2017 ‘5th Assemani Symposium on Arabic Coinage’, Università La Sapienza, Rome, 29-30 September 2017 (Rome, Italy): Why should the state keep Arabic coins? Assessing two case studies on nineteenth century Sicily (29-09-17).

2017 Jagiellonian University (Cracow, Poland): The newly-found world of tokens: an overview of Hellenistic and Roman Sicily (31-05-17).

2017 San Diego State University, Department of History (sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America) (San Diego, CA, USA): Ancient tokens and communities: insights into Hellenistic and Roman Sicily (06-03-17) (http://aia-sd.org/?p=907).

2013 Archaeology Seminars, University of Edinburgh (Edinburgh, UK): Tracking records and discovering unknown excavations: archaeology in the province of Messina during the post-Unification period (Sicily – Italy, 1861-1915) (07-03-13).

Conferences, Events and Workshops Organized

2018 Tokens, Value and Identity: Exploring Monetiform Objects in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, 18-19 October 2018, The British School at Rome (Rome, Italy): organizer of a two-day workshop on ancient tokens, featuring international leading scholars.

2018 AIA/SCS Meeting, 4-7 January 2018 (Boston, MA, USA): organizer of the session Banal Objects with Divine Power? Tokens, Deities, and Cult in the Ancient Mediterranean (07-01-18).

2015 The State and Its Past: Consolidating National Identities Through History, Archaeology, and Politics, Franke Institute, University of Chicago (Chicago, IL, USA): co-organizer of a one-day conference featuring international speakers (10-10-15) (http://franke.uchicago.edu/tevents.html).