Trieste Next: The future of our past

THE FUTURE OF OUR PAST

Full house for the round table curated by Elettra and hosted in the Talk Area in Piazza Unità. Excellently moderated by Daniela Picoi, author and director at RAI FVG, five speakers took the floor, sharing their expertise in the fields of technology, science, humanities and history: Federico Bernardini, archaeologist, ICTP and Fermi Centre in Rome; Alberto Giordano, master violinmaker and historian of Italian violin making; and the Elettra researchers Alessandra Gianoncelli, Mirta Sibilia and Franco Zanini, experts in archaeometry.

Franco Zanini introduced the role of ECHO, the Elettra Cultural Heritage Office, that is a new office of Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste coordinating all beamlines’ activities dedicated to cultural heritage. Moreover, ECHO relies on the collaboration of renowned experts in several fields.

The highlights included an incredible analysis of a Guadagnini violin using synchrotron light, the latest technologies for the study and preservation of cultural heritage and the secrets of Trieste’s iconic symbol, the halberd, the world’s most ancient flute, the fight against the corrosion of ancient metal objects and the discovery of Roman military fortifications in the surroundings of Trieste… these and other topics enraptured the audience submitting countless questions.

(ph. Roberto Barnabà)