“To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is not to have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything”. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Italian Journey, 1817.
I like to involve professionals and students who take my technical imaging training into research projects I have in Sicily. Thanks to a network of passionate colleagues who volunteer their time it is possible to do research on Sicilian cultural heritage, art, architecture and archaeology. Currently, I propose my trainees and international conservation scientists these projects:
The Museum of Sicilian carts in Aci Sant’Antonio (Sicily).
Aci Sant’Antonio has just seen the opening in 2014 of its Sicilian carts Museum (Museo del Carretto Siciliano). CHSOS wants to contribute to the development of the cultural program of this museum, providing the first technical examination and documentation of this art. The Sicilian cart is an ornate, colorful style of horse or donkey-drawn cart native to the island of Sicily. Aci Sant’Antonio played a pivotal role in the development of this fashion since it was the location of the painters specialized in the decoration of the carts. Another important workshop was in Palermo, serving the cart production on East Sicily. The west and east workshops developed different artistic styles, motives and colors.
August 2013 UCSD provides X-ray Fluorescence spectroscopy of a cart board piece
Nov 2014 A. Cosentino, S. Stout “Photoshop and Multispectral Imaging for Art Documentation” e-Preservation Science, 11, 91–98, 2014. This paper illustrates the examination of a cart board piece.
Nov 2014 D. Vanoni, S. Stout, A. Cosentino, F. Kuester, “Artifact Conservation: Representation and Analysis of Spectroscopic and Multispectral Imaging Data Using Augmented Reality” ICOMOS 18th General Assembly, Emerging tools for Conservation Practice, Nov 9-14 2014, Florence, Italy.
ICOMOS 2014 Poster.pdf (5434 downloads )
Dec 2014 – Presenting the Sicilian Carts Museum at the eCult Winter Stage in Athens, interview video.
March 2015 – The museum featured on Free eBook “Success Stories: eCultValue”
Savoca, Sicilian medieval village
Savoca was founded in 1134 by Roger II, king of the Normans, and it was a barony ruled by the archimandrite of the monastery of SS. Salvatore in Messina. The town, was the location for scenes of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather. CHSOS is involved in the documentation and study of the mural paintings in the Church of San Michele (14th century).
June 2015 Studying Wall Paintings. Savoca (Sicily)
August 2015 Crowdfunding for Art Conservation in Savoca (Sicily)
In the heart of Sicily, Assoro
Church of San Leone. Muge Uckan is doing FORS on a 1400s crucifix while training on Multispectral Imaging.
Thanks to the collaboration with Raffaello di Mauro, it is possible to access the many artworks which Assoro preserves. Raffaello is an conservation architect with more than 20 years experience in Sicilian architecture and he has been working on the conservation of a number or historical buildings in Assoro.
Nov 2013 – Istanbul conservator training in Sicily – Muge Uckan training in Multispectral Imaging in Assoro.
Jan 2014 – Submitted paper to Archeomatica – “FORS, Fiber Optics Reflectance Spectroscopy con gli spettrometri miniaturizzati per l’identificazione dei pigmenti.”
June 2014 – A. Cosentino “FORS, Fiber Optics Reflectance Spectroscopy con gli spettrometri miniaturizzati per l’identificazione dei pigmenti” Archeomatica, 1, 16–22, 2014.
Savoca was founded in 1134 by Roger II, king of the Normans, and it was a barony ruled by the archimandrite of the monastery of SS. Salvatore in Messina. The town, was the location for scenes of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather. CHSOS is involved in the documentation and study of the mural paintings in the Church of San Michele (14th century).
June 2015 Studying Wall Paintings. Savoca (Sicily)
August 2015 Crowdfunding for Art Conservation in Savoca (Sicily)
