Associated Products
Cartographic Visualizations of Texts, from Antiquity to Giovanni Boccaccio and Beyond (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Cartographic Visualizations of Texts, from Antiquity to Giovanni Boccaccio and Beyond
Abstract: During Giovanni Boccaccio's lifetime (1313-75), the common graphic representation of the world changed drastically from conceptually symbolic T-O maps, like the famous Hereford Mappamundi, to cartographic masterpieces that are immediately recognizable today, such as the 1375 Catalan Atlas. In this talk, Prof. Papio will introduce Boccaccio's geographical dictionary (the De montibus, silvis, fontibus, lacubus, fluminibus, stagnis seu paludibus, et de nominibus maris liber) as an important step in the humanistic investigation of the known world that led to the Age of Discovery. Using this work as a test case, he will discuss the use of new technologies for geospatial representations that enhance research and teaching alike.
Michael Papio is Professor of Italian Studies and Director of Graduate Program in Italian in the Department of Languages,
Literatures and Cultures at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is the editor and translator of Boccaccio's Expositions on Dante's Comedy (Toronto: U. of Toronto Press, 2009), and, with F. Borghesi and M. Riva, of Pico della Mirandola's "Oration on the Dignity of Man." A New Translation and Commentary (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2012). He is Editor-in-Chief of Heliotropia, a Forum for Boccaccio Research and Interpretation (and official publication of the American Boccaccio Association). Professor Papio is conducting a project for the National Endowment of Humanities Scholarly Editions grant (2015–2018) on Boccaccio’s De montibus, silvis, fontibus, lacubus, fluminibus, stagnis seu paludibus, et de nominibus maris liber, which aims to reconstruct a work that verbally visualizes and organizes geographical and mythological information as a dictionary for classical literature with new technologies for geospatial representations.
Author: Michael Papio
Date: 05/12/2016
Location: University of Washington
Primary URL:
https://frenchitalian.washington.edu/events/2016-05-12/histories-and-futures-publication-lecture-seriesBoccaccio’s Geographies: Mapping Ancient and Modern Time and Space” (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Boccaccio’s Geographies: Mapping Ancient and Modern Time and Space”
Abstract: During Giovanni Boccaccio’s lifetime (1313-75), the common graphic
conceptualization of the world changed drastically from T-O maps, like the
famous Hereford Mappamundi, to maps that are immediately recognizable
today, such as the 1375 Catalan Atlas. In this talk, Prof. Papio will consider
Boccaccio’s humanistic geographical gazetteer, the De montibus, silvis, fontibus,
lacubus, fluminibus, stagnis seu paludibus, et de nominibus maris liber,
alongside new technologies for geospatial representations that enhance
research and teaching alike.
Author: Michael Papio
Date: 03/03/2016
Location: University of Indiana Bloomington
Primary URL:
http://frit.indiana.edu/docs/lectures/2016-Papio-3-3.pdfMaking Maps of Affiliation in the Reconstruction of a Literary Dictionary (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Making Maps of Affiliation in the Reconstruction of a Literary Dictionary
Abstract: Professor Michael Papio will offer a workshop for graduate students and interested
faculty on the topic of the project that he is conducting for the National Endowment of
Humanities Scholarly Editions grant (2015-2018) on Boccaccio’s De montibusm, silvis,
fontibus, lacubus, fluminibus, stagnis seu paludibus, et de nominibus maris liber. Prof.
Papio will guide us through the technical and technological complexities of
reconstructing a work that verbally visualizes and organizes geographical and
mythological information as a dictionary for classical literature. Those who wish to
participate in the workshop are urged to bring a personal laptop with an IU wifi
connection to the workshop. Due to the nature of the workshop, that will include
materials from the Lilly, space is limited.
Author: Michael Papio
Date: 03/04/2016
Location: Indiana University Bloomington
Primary URL:
http://frit.indiana.edu/docs/lectures/2016-papio-3-4.pdfGeographical Mapping of Boccaccio’s De montibus (Conference Paper/Presentation)Title: Geographical Mapping of Boccaccio’s De montibus
Author: Albert Lloret
Author: Michael Papio
Abstract: This project has the potential to create meaningful links among the named places of Boccaccio’s geographical encyclopedia. As more of the nearly 2000 entries are plotted, we anticipate gaining valuable insights into the distribution of items in Boccaccio’s geographical inventory. The benefits of plotting the De montibus on a modern map are, we believe, rather obvious. However, certain aspects of this project are somewhat “betrayed” by modern cartography. To cite but a single example (and one that is readily apparent in the Fusion sample), the fantastic lake of Nilides mentioned by Juba II and Pliny as the western source of the Nile is, of course, not present in Google Maps. Plotting such geographic features, therefore, requires a certain dose of conjecture. As the project advances, it may well be that the creation of a more “medieval” cartographic representation would be more useful, one – for example – that does not take into account the Western Hemisphere, sub-Saharan Africa, Australia or the farther reaches of Asia. In this sense, it would perhaps make more sense to see the De montibus against the backdrop of a vision of the world more comparable to that of Herodotus (if not actually a T-O map). All of these questions will be better addressed as the project moves forward.
Date: 04/30/2015
Conference Name: Northeast Modern Language Association
Proposals for Geospatial Visualizations of Boccaccio's World (Conference Paper/Presentation)Title: Proposals for Geospatial Visualizations of Boccaccio's World
Author: Michael Papio
Abstract: As the Humanities ever more warmly embrace the emergence of new technologies, it is imperative that scholarly editions similarly move from a once static state to one that permits the academic community to engage with them in a personalized, interactive way. Using a new NEH-funded project as a case in point, this paper demonstrates several techniques that may be utilized to facilitate the incorporation of scholar-sourcing and creative mapping in the elaboration of a far-reaching critical edition.
Date: 04/17/2015
Primary URL:
https://www.brown.edu/academics/italian-studies/sites/brown.edu.academics.italian-studies/files/uploads/DH_Program_1.pdfConference Name: Scholarly Networks and the Emerging Platforms for Humanities Research & Publication
Editing Boccaccio’s De montibus (Conference Paper/Presentation)Title: Editing Boccaccio’s De montibus
Author: Michael Papio
Author: Albert Lloret
Abstract: The authors of this paper are working on the first critical edition and English translation of Boccaccio’s De montibus thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for scholarly editions and translations. Transmitted in 76 witnesses, including manuscripts and early editions, Boccaccio’s geographical dictionary was the only one of his works that did not enjoy a critical edition. In this paper we introduce the challenges of editing this work in the absence of an authorial manuscript, as well as the methodological and technical solutions we have devised to that end. On the basis of an advanced collation of the witnesses, we will appraise the value of both the manuscript and printed tradition, that of the text offered in its currently most authoritative edition, and of recent approaches to De montibus from the point of view of the storia della tradizione.
Date: 10/01/2016
Conference Name: Third Triennial American Boccaccio Association Conference, Duke Univ.
"An 'Impossible' Edition: Boccaccio's 'De montibus'" (Conference Paper/Presentation)Title: "An 'Impossible' Edition: Boccaccio's 'De montibus'"
Author: Albert Lloret
Author: Michael Papio
Abstract: The presentation demonstrates that the 1998 edition of the work is fundamentally flawed and that its author's claim that it is "impossible" to produce a critical edition is patently untrue.
Date: 03/09/2017
Conference Name: Five Colleges Medieval Seminar.
A Digital Collation of Boccaccio's De montibus (Conference Paper/Presentation)Title: A Digital Collation of Boccaccio's De montibus
Author: Albert Lloret
Abstract: This paper focuses on the use of digital humanities in the collation of the De montibus' 5-dozen manuscript witnesses.
Date: 03-25-2017
Conference Name: Northeast Modern Language Association Conference
Geospatial Visualizations for the Study of Boccaccio (Article)Title: Geospatial Visualizations for the Study of Boccaccio
Author: Michael Papio
Abstract: This essay asks a very general question: what can mapmaking do to help us better understand the life and work of a medieval author such as Boccaccio? This question relates to Papio’s own engagement with Boccaccio’s work as a “geographer” and “topographer” in De Montibus, and draws on pedagogical practices recently developed within the framework of the oldest among the VHL projects, the Decameron Web, that Papio contributed to create, back in the late 1990s.
Year: 2017
Primary URL:
http://journals.library.oregonstate.edu/index.php/hsda/article/view/3953/4012Primary URL Description: Link to full text
Access Model: open access
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Humanist Studies & the Digital Age
Notes for a Critical Edition of the De montibus and a Few Observations on "Rupibus ex dextris" (Article)Title: Notes for a Critical Edition of the De montibus and a Few Observations on "Rupibus ex dextris"
Author: Michael Papio
Author: Albert Lloret
Abstract: This essay presents the first philological considerations on the De montibus to be based on a complete collation of all its extant witnesses. From this new perspective, the authors revisit claims made in previous studies of Boccaccio’s erudite gazetteer, updating and correcting them with empirical data. In preparation for their critical edition, commentary and English translation, Papio and Lloret shed new light on the current edition, relationships among selected apographs and the authenticity of the poem known as «Rupibus ex dextris tenuis profunditur Arnus».
Year: 2018
Primary URL:
https://www.olschki.it/riviste/31Access Model: Subscription
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Studi sul Boccaccio
Publisher: Olschki
"Geocriticism with Dante and Boccaccio" (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: "Geocriticism with Dante and Boccaccio"
Abstract: This invited lecture, conducted via Skype, highlighted the inroads that have been made in geocriticism (the use of geographical methodologies to understand texts) in the field of medieval Italian literature. A large part of it, of course, dealt with our successes derived from NEH-sponsored research.
Author: Michael Papio
Date: 11/15/2018
Location: University of Oregon
“Who Wrote «Rupibus ex dextris»? Stylometric Experiments Between Petrarca and Boccaccio.” (Article)Title: “Who Wrote «Rupibus ex dextris»? Stylometric Experiments Between Petrarca and Boccaccio.”
Author: Michael Papio
Abstract: This essay, partially based on work done in the preparation of a critical edition of Giovanni Boccaccio’s De montibus, is centered around a short hexameter poem known as «Rupibus ex dextris tenuis profunditur Arnus» that appears in about twenty percent of the work’s extant witnesses. After demonstrating that these verses were not an original part of Boccaccio’s geographical dictionary, Papio uses some common stylometric approaches to investigate whether Boccaccio or Petrarca was more likely to be their author.
Year: 2019
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Medioevo letterario d’Italia