Andrea Nanetti received his Laurea in Medieval History (final thesis on “Venice and the Latin Empire of Constantinople”) with highest honors (cum laude) and his Ph.D. in “Society, Kingship and Priesthood in philological, historical and anthropological methodology (5th-16th c.)” from the University of Bologna (Prof. Antonio Carile). He has also studied at the Universität zu Köln (Prof. Peter Schreiner), Paris I-Sorbonne (Prof. Heleni Glikatzi Ahrweiler), Paris X-Nanterre (Prof. Evelyne Patlagean), the National Hellenic Research Foundation (Athens, Profs. Chryssa Maltezou, Nikolaos Oikonomides, and Evanghelos Chrysos), the Universität Wien (Prof. Johannes Koder), and at Brown University in the United States (Prof. Anthony Molho).
His scholarly career started at the Department of History and Methods for Cultural Heritage Preservation of the University of Bologna (Ravenna), where he learned how advancements are made by interdisciplinary and international approaches. He enriched his academic education in the humanities developing prototypal electronic features to publish historical sources (cartography, documents and chronicles), and participated in cultural heritage management in national and international research projects, reaching Assistant Director positions.
Between 1996 and 2011, part of the research results has been presented in more than 110 papers in Europe, America, Asia, and Australia. He has received recognition for his work, by winning funding, and receiving international prizes and awards, and most of his main forty publications (in Italian, English and Greek) are used and recognized by citation in international peer reviewed scientific publications.
He is the sole editor of “The Morosini Code. The world as seen from Venice (1094-1433)”, the “Treaty of Sapienza between Venice and Geoffroy de Villehardouin for the Peloponnese (1209)”, “The original Papal bull ‘Religiosam vitam’ by Gregory X for Mount Sinai (1274)”, “Documenta Veneta Coroni et Methoni rogata (13th-15th c.)”, and “The Short Chronicle of the priest Theophilactos Agorastos on the Venetian Conquest of the Morea (1683-1690)”. Also since 2000 he is permanent member of the Committee for the Publication of the Sources for the History of Venice.
In 2010 he was invited by the Directorate General for Research of the European Commission to take part in the EU-China Science and Technology Week (June 14-19, 2010) at the European Union Pavilion at World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. The event was opened by José Manuel Silva Rodriguez, EU Director-General for Research, and Jianlin Cao, Vice-Minister of Science and Technology People’s Republic of China, Jean-Michel Baer, EU Director for Science Economy and Society at the Directorate General for Research, and Jianguo Han, Director-General of the Bureau of International Cooperation in the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The EU-China STW brought together leading scientists, journalists, and representatives from industry, academia and government from the European Union and China.
Andrea Nanetti’s major research projects use his original and innovative transdisciplinar method of “engineering historical memory”, applied to the study of Venetian documents and chronicles, seen as a major source to build a database on interactions among cities, nations and continents during Late Medieval and Early Modern Times (13th-early 16th c.). By collaborating in creating the database, scholars are invited to compare/integrate all other coeval and similar sources coming from all over the world, using English as their lingua franca. With this vision, Andrea Nanetti conducts global, regional and local historical investigations based on massive highly cross-linked informatization of literary, documentary, cartographical, archaeological, iconographical and photographical data on how, when, where, and why the peoples of the world interacted (trade, diplomacy, and war). The research projects are listed here, starting from most recent ones:
- 2010… Bridges across Borders or Borders on Bridges? Intercontinental trade, diplomacy, and conflicts at the very beginning of globalization (1399-1505): first stage funded by Meduproject S.r.l and the Flaminia Foundation (building research teams for fund raising in Venice, China, Australia, Turkey, Egypt, and India); first work package funded by the University of Venice Ca’ Foscari, ‘Dept of Historical Studies’ and ‘European Center for Living Technologies’ (database design and experimental development).
- 2010… The Morosini Project (1400-1433): new completely revised and constantly updated on-line edition with English translation of the Morosini Codex, based on Andrea Nanetti’s critical edition of the entire manuscript (2010) and the edition with English translation by Michele Ghezzo, John Melville-Jones and Andrea Rizzi (1999-2010, until the year 1413).
- 2009… Venetian notarial deeds drawn up in Mameluke Egypt (1252-1517) (fund raising phase).
- 2007… Venetian Ravenna, 1441-1509 (funded by the University of Bologna, Carira Foundation, Flaminia Foundation, and Archivio di Stato of Ravenna).
- 2002… Venetian notarial deeds drawn up in Constantinople (1261-1453);
- 1996… Venetian Messenia 1207-1500 (Greece, funded by the University of Bologna, State Archive of Venice, Institute for Byzantine Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation, the Maniatakeion Foundation, and Dimitris Koulourianos), was awarded by the “Confédération Internationale de Généalogie et d’Héraldique (CIGH)” for “recherches sur les relations médiévales de la Sérénissime avec les côtes balkaniques, et notamment avec la Péloponnèse” (2000, Besançon, France), and was officially presented in Athens (Old Parliament, 2008), with speeches by the President of the Greek Parliament, the Metropolitan of Messenia, the Italian Ambassador in Athens, and others.
- 2007 Gothic Trapani, 13th-16th c. (supported by the Pepoli Museum of the Regione Siciliana).
- 2007 Chronicles for the history of Medieval Imola (Italy, funded by the Carimola Foundation).
- 2000-2010 The Morosini codex: the world as seen from Venice (1400-1433). A critical edition (funded by the University of Bologna, the Italian Ministry of Research and University, Flaminia Foundation, Italian and Austrian Academy of Sciences, and Princeton University PHS).
- 1999-2010 Engineering the historical cartography of the Region “Romagna” (Italy, funded by the Carira Foundation, the Carimola Fundation, the Regione “Emilia-Romagna”, and the Italian Ministry of Culture).
He is the co-editor-in-chief of two series published by his spin-off company Meduproject: “Mediterranean Diaries” (with Prof. Luigi Tomassini) and “Waves of History” (with Prof. Antonio Carile), the first in occasional collaboration with the Greek Ministry of Culture and the latter with the cultural patronage of the University of Bologna, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Institute for Byzantine Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation, the Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente, the Italian Institution for Energy and Environment, and others.
His business idea MeduProject® (for Mediterranean Cultural Heritage Projects)
- in 2001 was awarded a prize in the “StartCup” of the University of Bologna, the first Italian business plan competition devoted to projects with high content of knowledge,
- in 2001-2002 was funded by the Spinner Consortium through the “Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Environment (ENEA)” for the MDproject (Multispectral technologies for Medieval manuscript diagnostic),
- in 2002 became a university spin-off company,
- in 2010 was given an award by the Italian Institut of Human Sciences and by the Ph.D. School of Humanities of the University of Bologna respectively, presided and directed by Umberto Eco, presented at the inter-doctoral seminar The Ph.D. outside the University. Meeting with entrepreneurs, managers and professionals organized in collaboration with Consortium Spinner in Bologna.
- in 2010 presented his project on the Historical cartography of the Region “Romagna” in Shanghai at the World Expo.
Andrea Nanetti’s teaching credentials (in Italian, English, and Modern Greek) include Medieval history, Byzantine history, History of Medieval Venice, Latin Palaeography and Diplomatics. At present he teaches Medieval history for the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (in Italian) and Byzantine history for College Year in Athens (in English). In the Academic Year 2011/2012 he is Visiting Professor at the University of Venice Ca’ Foscari.
He is now advisor to public and private institutions in Italy and Greece on “Research and Development in Human Sciences” and “Historical memory as source for economic development”.