UNITED NATIONS GROUP OF EXPERTS ON GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES
ROMANO-HELLENIC DIVISION

International scientific symposium
Place names as intangible cultural heritage
Florence [Firenze] – Italy, 26th – 27th March 2015

Venue: Auditorium of the Italian Army Unified Circle Via della Scala, 68 – Florence. Under the auspices of: Accademia della Crusca (Italy), Italian Geographic Military Institute, Government of the Tuscany Region.

PROGRAMME
26 March 2015

10:30’ – Registration of participants.

11:00’ – Opening session
– Cesare Alimenti, Deputy Commander of Italian Geographic Military Institute – Italy

– Anna Marson, Tuscan Regional Minister for Spatial Planning and Landscape – Italy

– Alberto Nocentini, Accademia della Crusca – Italy

– Carlo Alberto Mastrelli, Emeritus professor of the University of Florence – Italy.

11:30’ – First session: Prolegomena
– Andrea Cantile, Chair of the UNGEGN Romano-Hellenic Division – Italy
Place names as intangible cultural heritage: introduction to the symposium.

– Helen Kerfoot, Honorary Chair of the UNGEGN – Canada
UNGEGN, National Names Authorities and cultural heritage.

– Peter Jordan, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Convenor, UNGEGN WG on Exonyms – Austria
Geographical names as part of the cultural heritage – some general thoughts.

12:40’ – Special presentation

– Maurizio Trevisani, Tuscan Regional Ministry of Spatial Planning and Landscape – Italy
Place names of Tuscany. From the cartographic sources to diachronic database.

13:00’ – Lunch

14:20’ – Photo of the participants in the garden of the Italian Army Unified Circle.

14:40’ – Second session: Genius loci, identity, safeguard and preservation of the place names

Chair, Leif Nilsson, UNGEGN WG on Geographical Names as Cultural Heritage, University of Uppsala – Sweden

– Cosimo Palagiano, Emeritus professor of the “Sapienza” University of Rome, Accademia dei Lincei – Italy
Genius loci and identity.

– Enzo Caffarelli, University of Roma Tor Vergata – Italy
The place name in the complexity of transonymic processes. A cultural-historical heritage to be safeguarded and preserved beyond its primary referentiality.

– Alberto Nocentini, University of Florence, Accademia della Crusca – Italy
Toponymy as source of (pre)history: our oldest river names.

– Elena Dai Prà, University of Trento – Italy
Territoriality and toponyms. Borders and bordering in Trentino historical maps.

– Discussion

16:20’ – Coffee break

16:40’ – Third session: Place names standardization and cultural heritage
Chair, Helen Kerfoot, Honorary Chair of the UNGEGN – Canada

– Leif Nilsson and Annette Torensjö, Coconvenors, UNGEGN WG on Geographical Names as Cultural Heritage – Sweden
Place-names as intangible cultural heritage – the example of Sweden.

– Élisabeth Calvarin, UNGEGN, Franch-Speaking Division – France
Le patrimoin de l’Île-de-France à travers les transports en commun.

– Marta Montilla Lillo, Instituto Geográfico Nacional – Spain
Situation and developments in the standardization of geographical names in Spain.

– Andreas Hadjiraftis, Permanent Committee for the Standardization of Geographical Names – Cyprus
Toponymic Standardization in Cyprus, Geographical Names – Intangible Cultural Heritage.

– Discussion

18:30’ – Closing

20:00’ – Social dinner

27 March 2015

9:20’ – Fourth session: Historical and geographical point of view
Chair, Cosimo Palagiano, Emeritus professor of the “Sapienza” University of Rome, Accademia dei Lincei – Italy

– Laura Cassi, University of Florence, Society for Geographical Studies – Italy
Geographical aspects of place names research. An overview.

– Giuliana Biagioli, University of Pisa – Italy
A cultural heritage: Toponymy in Tuscany. An historical, geographical and linguistic enquiry with GIS support.

– Matteo Massarelli, University of Florence – Italy
Cultural heritage and landscape in Tuscan toponymy with special reference to the West Coast.

– Nicola Gabellieri, University of Genova – Italy
A changing identity: from an agrarian and manufacturing region to a multi-function territory.

10:40’ Coffee break

– Stefano Piastra, University of Bologna – Italy
The Projection Overseas of a Toponym. The Placename ‘Ravenna’ in the USA.

– Alessandro Camiz, Sapienza University of Rome – Italy
On the origin and persistence of praedial toponyms in Central Italy.

– Furio Ciciliot, Savonese Society of National History – Italy
The Historical Toponymy Project: materials for studying a territory.

– Graziano Ferrari and Gabriele Tarabusi, National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, and Nicola di Novella, Naturalist – Italy
A territory speaking as people: the dialects in place names.

– Andrea Masturzo, University of Bergamo – Italy
Cartography and toponymy: the denomination of the African territory in Italian colonial experience.

– Discussion

– Closing of the International symposium and conclusions.

13:00’ – Lunch

14:30’ – Sightseeing tour: Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo (by reservation).