Project

ISLAMit — Mapping and Digital Pathways of Islamic Heritage in Italy

Mapping and Digital Pathways of Islamic Heritage in Italy

Immagine: Su concessione della Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggi per il Comune di Venezia e Laguna.

Overview

Mapping Islamic material heritage in Italy

ISLAMit is a digital humanities project dedicated to mapping and promoting the Islamic material heritage preserved in Italy. The project develops an online platform that brings together, for the first time, dispersed documentation on objects from the Islamic world held in museums, ecclesiastical collections and archaeological contexts.

The first phase focuses on North-Eastern Italy (Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia), where Venice played a key role in the circulation of Islamic artefacts across the Mediterranean. Through interactive digital itineraries, ISLAMit highlights the diversity of this heritage—including ceramics, glass, metals, textiles, carpets, manuscripts and weapons—while providing information on collections, accessibility and published documentation, with the long-term aim of expanding the database through the study of previously unpublished material.

Visit the ISLAMit platform ↗

The Mapping

Digital pathways

Current ISLAMit mapping of museums, collections, archaeological sites and ceramic basins

The current map brings together the project’s records for museums and collections, archaeological sites and ceramic basins. It is continuously updated as the research progresses.

Open the current map ↗

Museums / Collections

Mapping of public collections and objects from the Islamic world preserved in museums and ecclesiastical institutions.

Archaeological Sites

Documentation of Islamic artefacts recovered from archaeological contexts in North-Eastern Italy.

Under construction

Ceramic Basins

Mapping of buildings decorated with ceramic basins originating from the Islamic world.

The Team

Research, cataloguing and collections

Prof. Valentina Vezzoli (University of Udine, Department of Humanities and Cultural Heritage) directs the project, supported by the Department of Humanities and Cultural Heritage (Department of Excellence, 2023–2027 MUR).

Carla Stancanelli (PhD Candidate, Sciences of Antiquity, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Udine and Trieste) carried out the cataloguing of museums/collections and preserved objects.

Daisy Crozzolo (MA in History of Art, University of Udine) carried out the cataloguing of archaeological sites and ceramic finds.

Marco Deiuri (MA in History of Art, University of Udine) carried out the cataloguing of buildings with ceramic basins of Islamic provenance.

Evelina Quattrin (MA in History of Art and Conservation of Historical-Artistic Heritage, University of Udine) studied Ottoman-produced textiles from various contexts.

Martina Lavina (BA in Cultural Tourism Sciences and Techniques) catalogued and studied objects from the Museo Storico Navale di Venezia (MUNAV).

Activities

Round Table · 29 April 2025

The preliminary results of ISLAMit were presented at the University of Udine in a round table devoted to the mapping of museum collections, archaeological sites and Islamic heritage in North-Eastern Italy, with contributions from project collaborators, scholars and representatives of cultural institutions.

Event page ↗ · Programme / poster (PDF) ↗

Poster and programme of the ISLAMit round table, 29 April 2025

News / Highlights

Discovering Islamic Heritage in Italy

Pianeta Barbaro, Museo Cristiano e Tesoro del Duomo di Cividale del Friuli

ISLAMit · Islamic Heritage in Italy

IT

Alla scoperta del patrimonio islamico in Italia: la Pianeta Barbaro di Cividale

Una preziosa veste liturgica realizzata con un tessuto ottomano del XVI secolo racconta le relazioni diplomatiche, commerciali e artistiche tra Venezia e l’Impero ottomano.

di Evelina Quattrin

EN

Discovering Islamic Heritage in Italy: the Barbaro Chasuble in Cividale

A precious liturgical vestment made with a sixteenth-century Ottoman textile reveals the diplomatic, commercial and artistic connections between Venice and the Ottoman Empire.

by Evelina Quattrin

Read / Leggi →

Planned update

Museo Storico Navale di Venezia

The ISLAMit platform will expand with the publication of the collection of objects from the Islamic world held by the Museo Storico Navale di Venezia (MUNAV).