1 or 2 CFUs depending on the type of participation

Lecturers: Anna Maria Stagno, Denise Bezzina, Valentina Ruzzin, with the support of Matteo Tacca (post-doctoral fellow) and Adele Repetto (PhD student)

Start: annual seminar cycle, tentative start December 2025

Timetable: seminars take place on a weekly basis according to an established schedule, published in the second half of October.

Methods in person (distance learning only for working students). To enrol send an email to the mailbox anna.stagno@unige.it starting from September 2025, taking care to indicate "SEMPER ENROLLMENT" in the subject line and to specify your first name, surname, matriculation number, course of study, curriculum, year of course.

Participation in 6 meetings, with the drafting of at least 4 reading sheets on the proposed bibliography, allows you to acquire 1 CFU (for a total of 25 hours). Participation in the entire cycle and the writing of an individual paper enables the acquisition of 2 CFUs.

The Permanent Seminar of Local History is a well-established experience (started in 1992-1993) that has the explicit aim of integrating teaching and research activities with a strong focus on the dimension of local analysis. It wants to offer an opportunity for dialogue around objects of common interest that characterise the work of those who practice historical investigations today, starting from documentary sources as well as from the field. The seminars normally take place on Mondays according to an established schedule, published in the second half of October. The cycle of meetings also includes the possibility for participants to carry out individual research exercises. By the end of February, students engaged in this exercise will prepare a personal study proposal, which will be articulated with a summary and bibliographical apparatus (also from source and topic proposals provided by the lecturers). Starting in February, part of the meetings will be devoted to the discussion of these individual research paths. The seminar is open to students and PhD students from the Universities of Genoa and Eastern Piedmont, and is organised by the environmental history strands of the PhD programmes of the University of Genoa and the Historical Sciences curriculum of the PhD programme in Ecology of Cultural and Institutional Systems of the University of Eastern Piedmont, with the collaboration of the research group of the Laboratory of Archaeology and Environmental History (LASA-UNIGE) and the Inter-University Centre for Territorial History G. Casalis (Uniupo-Unige-Unito).

Each year the seminar focuses on a specific theme. The theme for the academic year 2025/2026 will be defined in the last meetings of the 2024-2025 cycle.

1 CFU

Lecturer: Matteo Caponi

Start: the Workshop will take place in November-December 2025.

Meeting schedule: dates and times will be announced soon.

Duration: 5 meetings of 3 hours each, for a total of 15 hours, in addition to the self-study required to write a final paper. 

For further information and to enrol: send an email to matteo.caponi@unige.it, specifying the course of study and the year of the course.

Contents
The workshop aims to provide students with the tools to write their Master's thesis, starting with the main research methodologies and the collection of sources up to the drafting and revision of the text. The following topics will be covered:

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1. What a dissertation is and what it is for; how to choose a dissertation topic; the dissertation paper as an argumentative text.
2. The use of the vocabulary and argumentative style proper to the discipline of historiography.
3. The retrieval of sources and bibliography (research in archives and libraries; databases and online digital resources).
4. The organisation of a structured text (abstract, subdivision into chapters and paragraphs).
5. The critical apparatus and editorial standards.

Training Objectives
At the end of the course the student will be able to:

• Operate a selection of sources, identifying their typology and hierarchy (documentary; primary printed; secondary; digital);
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• Write an abstract of the thesis project and derive keywords;
• Create an index, with an indicative division into chapters;
• Apply appropriate editorial criteria (make footnotes correctly and know how to cite sources);
• Edit the bibliography and sitography;

Students are expected to attend and actively participate.

Reference texts
Fabio Rossi, How to write a dissertation today. Guida pratica per tesi, tesine e altri elaborati, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2025.

Methods of assessment
Drafting of a final paper including title, abstract, keywords, provisional index and bibliography of the thesis project.

1 CFU

Lecturers: Marco Natalizi

Start and Times: to be determined

Duration: 6 meetings of 2 hours each are scheduled, in addition to the self-study required for the presentation of a final paper.

For further information and to enrol: prof. Marco Natalizi marco.natalizi@unige.it

Contents
The aim of this workshop is to offer to the students of the three-year course in History an in-depth study and seminar discussion on the political and social history of the USSR up to the collapse of the Berlin Wall, in order to refine their critical approach to the various historical sources and to develop a good mastery of the historiographical debate. The workshop focuses on the history of the USSR/Russia, but the events of the Soviet regime will be contextualised in a broader framework, through the study of the ways in which the Kremlin's international challenges have influenced its domestic agenda.
After an extensive introduction reflecting on the idea of 'Greater Russia', the major phases of the Soviet twentieth century will be analysed, with a stronger focus on the years 1928-1953.
The impact of the Stalin regime on the Soviet Union in economic and political terms, but also in social and cultural terms, the real scope and limits of Kruščëv's 'thaw', and finally the main features of the last years of the USSR will be examined.

Methodology
. The meetings will combine the analysis of primary sources, which concern crucial aspects of the topic addressed, with an in-depth historiographical discussion.

Bibliography
O. Chlevnjuk, Stalin. Biography of a Dictator, Mondadori, Milan, 2016.
E. Cinnella, 1917. La Russia verso l'abisso, Della Porta Editori, Pisa, 2012.
E. Cinnella, Stalin's Russia: the formation of the totalitarian regime, Pisa, Della Porta Editori, 2021.
S. Fitzpatrick, Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000. 
A. Graziosi, The USSR of Lenin and Stalin. Storia dell'Unione Sovietica, 1914-1915, il Mulino, Bologna, 2007
A. Graziosi, L'URSS dal trionfo al degrado: storia dell'Unione Sovietica, 1945-1991, il Mulino, Bologna, 2007.
R.A. Medvedev, The rise and fall of Nikita Chruščëv, Editori Riuniti, Rome, 1982.
S. Bialer, I successori di Stalin, Milano, Garzanti, 1985.

Documents
The sources to be analysed will be proposed during the workshop.
For a framing of the general issues, A. Graziosi, Archival revolution and Soviet historiography, in "Contemporanea", 2005, no. 1.

Mutualisation of the Bachelor's Degree Course in Conservation of Cultural Heritage

1 or 2 CFUs depending on the type of participation

Lecturers: Anna Maria Stagno, with the support of Drs. Laura Moro, Laura Gago Chorén, Ylenia Paciotti, Eltjana Shkreli and Giorgia Frangioni 

Period: 1st semester

Start: will be announced later

Time: will be agreed with students

Methods: in presence. To enrol send an email to the mailbox anna.stagno@unige.it starting from 1st September, taking care to indicate as subject "ASTRALAB ENROLLMENT" and to specify surname, matriculation, course of study, curriculum, year of course. A presentation of the Lab's activities is planned for September.

At the AstraLab - Laboratory of Archaeology and Rural and Landscape History of DAFIST  it is possible to carry out practical activities related to the ongoing research and projects on environmental and rural archaeology and history and landscape in the European mountains. Sources and methods of rural and landscape history and archaeology will be explored through educational outings, seminars and workshop activities. The surface reconnaissance (lasting one day) will alternate with workshop activities dedicated to the analysis of current and historical cartography on a GIS platform, re-elaboration of documentation and excavation and reconnaissance data, analysis of finds, consultation of archives of field surveys and private archives in the LASA and the LASA library.

Participation in 25 hours of workshop activities or 15 hours of workshop activities and the writing of a paper on the work carried out allow 1 CFU to be acquired.

maintained by the Master's Degree Course in Archaeology: Profession and Knowledge (ArcheoPeS)

1 or 2 CFU depending on the type of participation

Period: 2nd semester

Lecturer: Anna Maria Stagno, with the support of José Abellan Santisteban (assignee), Nathan Brenu (assignee), Lucia Vanacore (assignee)

Start and Timetable: will be agreed with participants.

Where: at DAFIST

For further information and registration, please contact the lecturer.

2 CFUs

Lecturer: Giuseppe Rocca

Start: to be determined

Time: to be determined

Duration: 36 hours in presence plus 14 hours of autonomous commitment

For more information and to register: Prof. Giuseppe Rocca giurocca@lingue.unige.it

The following topics are proposed, to be carried out in meetings of two hours each, twice a week (for a total of 30-36 hours, equal to 2 cfu):

1. Basic lexical questions (geographical space, territory, environment, landscape .... )
.
2. The bibliographical sources aimed at the study of the territory
3. The statistical sources: categories, indicators, indices
4. From the parish registers established by the Council of Trent to the other statistical sources developed in Europe during the modern age: examples of research based on this source
5. Population Censuses from the Unification of Italy to the Present
.
6. The censuses of agriculture, industry and services from the post World War II period to the present
7. The cartographic sources: categories and methods of use in the chrono-spatial analysis of the territory
8. The topographical maps produced by the Istituto Geografico Militare in Florence and their use in the analysis of functional transformations of the territory in Italy: examples of research based on this source
9. The cadastral sources and their use in the analysis of functional transformations of territory and landscape: examples of research based on this source
10. Direct observation of the places of historical memory
.
11. Eventual didactic outing in Genoa and/or the Oltregiogo genovese, dedicated to symbolic places regarding the history of the territory visited and that still today contribute to identifying its identity

A written or oral examination is scheduled at the end of the workshop.

The assessment of the degree of learning achieved by the student during the final examination is considered:

• good, excellent or very good if the student reveals conceptual mastery, clarity of exposition and demonstrates that he/she has thoroughly understood the topics covered in the laboratory hours;
• good or satisfactory, if the student shows correct but not always appropriate language, revealing a lack of understanding of the topics covered;
• sufficient, if the student shows modes of expression that are not appropriate and clear, revealing an overall approximate preparation;

at the Genoa City Council Historical Archives

1 CFU

Lecturer-tutor: Enrico Isola

The workshop will take place in the second semester of the academic year 2025/26, in April and May. The exact dates will be announced at a later date.

Meeting schedule: The workshop will be held at the Genoa City Council's Historical Archives, in the afternoon (Tuesday - Thursday), with exercises of 2 hours each.
Total duration: 25 hours.

For further information and to enrol: send an email to enricoisola[at]gmail.com

Contents
The aim of the workshop is to introduce the students to archival work and historical research through the direct analysis of the documentation preserved in the Historical Archive of the Municipality of Genoa.

The workshop aims to introduce the students to archival work and historical research through the direct analysis of the documentation preserved in the Historical Archive of the Municipality of Genoa. The meetings will take place through practical exercises aimed at:

• Getting to know the structure and history of the Historical Archive;
.
• Analysing the archival fonds produced by the city administration from the 15th to the 20th century;
• Reconstruct the administrative process of a documentary file;
• Use archival tools for research;
• Deploy research methodology on primary sources;
• Reflect on the relationship between documentary sources and the construction of historical discourse;

Particular attention will be paid to significant fonds such as those of the Magistracies of the Republic of Genoa, of the Ligurian Republic, of the French Empire, of the annexed municipalities, of family archives (Brignole Sale, De Ferrari Galliera), as well as of associations and personalities of the twentieth century (Ligurian Centre for Social History, CGIL, FLM).

Training Objectives
At the end of the workshop, the student will be able to:

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• Recognise and describe the main types of archival documents
.
• Use accompanying tools and inventories to orientate themselves in research;
• Reconstruct the institutional and administrative context of the documents analysed;
• Develop autonomous skills in reading, interpreting and contextualising primary sources;
• Reflect critically on the relationship between document and historical narrative
.

Attendance and active participation in the exercises is required.

Reference texts
. Working materials will be provided during the workshop. Further in-depth readings will be indicated by the lecturer-tutor.

Assessment methods
Drafting of a final paper documenting the research carried out on one of the funds analysed, including:

• Description of the fund
• Objective of the research
• Method and tools used
• Source analysis
• Concluding remarks