Workshop: Clothing and Costume in the Sources. from the Early Middle Ages to the Modern Age

The workshop is designed to contribute to the achievement of the learning objectives of the master's degree program in "Cultural, Intellectual and Visual History" by developing the knowledge and skills inherent in the recognition of the elements of clothing, textiles, oplology, and clothing complements in iconographic and written sources, as well as an understanding of their semantic, sociological and historical function. Through a comparison of the terminology found in the documents as well as through guided reading, the student will be able to gain an understanding of the works under consideration by understanding the function of the production contexts, the symbolic, identity-related and political significance that clothing has assumed over time in the various contexts of use. Terminological specificities will be explored, with a focus on the Italian peninsula and the European context. At the end of the course, the student will be able to independently conduct a new reading and analysis based on the evidence of material culture.

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:
- describe and interpret an iconographic source through the recognition of the main clothing, textile and hoplological elements;
- recognize and explain the differences between various contexts of clothing use and areas of production/use;
- advance new interpretive hypotheses about the function, meaning and symbolism of an iconographic source;
- recognize and correctly use specific terminology;
- know how to independently conduct research through the correct use of sources.