Languages, Cultures and Visual Studies

Photo of Professor Fabrizio Nevola

Professor Fabrizio Nevola

Professor in Art History and Visual Culture

F.Nevola@exeter.ac.uk

5499

01392 725499

Overview

I am Head of Art History and Visual Culture and Deputy Head of Department for Languages, Cultures and Visual Studies.

I did my undergraduate degree in Modern History and Italian at University College, Oxford and MA (History of Architecture) and PhD (History of Art) at the Courtauld Institute of Art. I have held research fellowships at the University of Warwick, the Canadian Centre for Architecture (Montreal), the Medici Archive Project (Florence), and Harvard University's Villa I Tatti (Florence). In 2022 I was Visiting Professor at Ca' Foscari, University of Venice, Centre for Digital and Public Humanities. I specialise in the urban, cultural and architectural history of Early Modern Italy, including a special interest in street life, and is involved in innovative work using digital art history approaches for research and public engagement.

My first book, Siena: Constructing the Renaissance City (Yale University Press, 2007) was awarded the Royal Institute of British Architects, Sir Nikolaus Pevsner International Book Award for Architecture. My most resent monograph is Street Life in Renaissance Italy (Yale University Press, 2020), which was shortlisted for the Renaissance Studies Biennial book prize (2022). Among various edited volumes (see publications), I most recently edited Hidden Cities. Urban Space, Geolocated Apps and Public History in Early Modern Europe (Routledge, 2022).

In a number of recent research projects that have explored the use of mobile phone apps for different aspects of narrative and history, I have worked with specialists in the field of digital media. Hidden Florence, is a collaboration with industry-leaders in GPS-triggered city audio tours Calvium Ltd, to create an idiosyncratic guide to Renaissance Florence in the form of a mobile phone App. You can download the App free from AppStore or Google Play. You can also watch a short film about the project here. In 2018 a new phase of this project began, involving exciting collaborations with the National Gallery (London), the Polo Museale della Toscana (Florence) and colleagues at the universities of Toronto and Cambridge; a revised App was published in May 2019. These collaborations continued with  Getty Foundation funded project Immersive Renaissance, which explored how interoperable 3D models of Renaissance buildings can interact with real world settings as AR experiences, and GIS mapping (see the Florence4D project website). A more recent experiment with 3D augmented reality for urban and gallery experiences resulted in the Hidden Florence 3D app, which was App of the Year AR/3D (2020) for innovative use of 3D/AR.

I am project lead of the HERA (Humanities in the European Research Area) Public Renaissance project, in which I collaborate with colleagues at the universities of Valencia, Groningen, Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and the Fondazione Bruno Kessler (Trento), to examine the Urban Cultures of Public Space between Early Modern Europe and the Present. A project webite for Hidden Cities is now live as are five city apps for Exeter, Deventer, Hamburg, Trento and Valencia (iOS and Android, published 2020). I was also a coinvestigator on the VISTA AR European research project, based at Exeter, to develop, implement and evaluate a range of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) experiences for a number of heritage sites in the South West (England) and Brittany (France).

At Exeter I have been the Director of the Centre for Early Modern Studies (2016-20), and am an elected memeber of university Senate. I am a member of the editorial board of the Liverpool University Press series Exeter Studies in Medieval Europe.

Watch a short talk about my research at Exeter.

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Research

Fabrizio works and has published on the ritual use of public space, urban identity, the representation and perception of community groups within cities, as well as the relations between commercial and residential spaces in Early Modern Italy. New research looks at the street as a social space, the urban iconography that often binds main streets into a coherent whole and the relations between public and private self-representation. This recent work also engages in cross-chronological discussion, linking the themes and issues of concern for the present to those of the past.

He was principal investigator for a research project on 'Taverns, locals and street corners',  an AHRC funded research project that looked at the public use of urban space across history, from Renaissance Italy to the present day - a collaboration between colleagues from Bath, Exeter (Dr Jane Milling) and Birmingham (Prof Antonia Layard). A short slideshow interview about the project can be seen here. Prior to this, with Dr David Rosenthal, he conducted a research review on cities and urban communities in Early Modern Italy for the AHRC 'Connected Communities' programme. He was also PI on the Street Life network with Dr Georgia Clarke (Courtauld Institute of Art), which engaged with academics as well

From 2014-5 he co-directed a project called 'Understanding Space in Renaissance Italy' funded by the Getty Foundation ‘Connecting Art Histories’ programme and run by Harvard University Villa I Tatti, Centre for the Study of the Italian Renaissance, Florence. In July 2014 he co-led a seminar in Florence for 12 young academics from China and Taiwan who teach Western art and architecture to study Renaissance works first-hand and in October he co-organised a conference at the Harvard University China Centre in Shanghai and Fudan University. The project, in a slightly modified format, was repeated in 2015, and included a conference I co-organised at Nanjing University.

In a number of recent research projects that have explored the use of mobile phone apps for different aspects of narrative and history, he has worked with specialists in the field of digital media. Hidden Florence, is a collaboration with industry-leaders in GPS-triggered city audio tours Calvium Ltd, to create an idiosyncratic guide to Renaissance Florence in the form of a mobile phone App. You can download the App free from AppStore or Google Play. You can also watch a short film about the project here.

In 2018 a new phase of this project began, involving exciting collaborations with the National Gallery (London), the Polo Museale della Toscana (Florence) and colleagues at the universities of Toronto and Cambridge; a revised App was published in May 2019. These collaborations continue with new Getty Foundation funded project Immersive Renaissance, which is exploring how interoperable 3D models of Renaissance buildings can interact with real world settings as AR experiences, and GIS mapping (see the Florence4D project website). Fabrizio is also a coinvestigator on the VISTA AR European research project, based at Exeter, to develop, implement and evaluate a range of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) experiences for a number of heritage sites in the South West (England) and Brittany (France). Finally, as lead of the HERA (Humanities in the European Research Area) Public Renaissance project, he is collaborating with colleagues at the universities of Valencia, Groningen, Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and the Fondazione Bruno Kessler (Trento), to examine the Urban Cultures of Public Space between Early Modern Europe and the Present. A new project webite for Hidden Cities is now live as are five city apps for Exeter, Deventer, Hamburg, Trento and Valencia.

Watch a short talk about my research at Exeter.



Research collaborations

In a number of recent research projects that have explored the use of mobile phone apps for different aspects of narrative and history, he has worked with specialists in the field of digital media. Hidden Florence, is a collaboration with industry-leaders in GPS-triggered city audio tours Calvium Ltd, to create an idiosyncratic guide to Renaissance Florence in the form of a mobile phone App. You can download the App free from AppStore or Google Play. You can also watch a short film about the project here. In 2018 a new phase of this project began, involving exciting collaborations with the National Gallery (London), the Polo Museale della Toscana (Florence) and colleagues at the universities of Toronto and Cambridge; a revised App was published in May 2019.

These collaborations continue with new Getty Foundation funded project Immersive Renaissance, which is exploring how interoperable 3D models of Renaissance buildings can interact with real world settings as AR experiences, and GIS mapping (see the Florence4D project website). Fabrizio is also a coinvestigator on the VISTA AR European research project, based at Exeter, to develop, implement and evaluate a range of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) experiences for a number of heritage sites in the South West (England) and Brittany (France). Finally, as lead of the HERA (Humanities in the European Research Area) Public Renaissance project, he is collaborating with colleagues at the universities of Valencia, Groningen, Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and the Fondazione Bruno Kessler (Trento), to examine the Urban Cultures of Public Space between Early Modern Europe and the Present. A new project webite for Hidden Cities is now live as are five city apps for Exeter, Deventer, Hamburg, Trento and Valencia.

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Supervision

Fabrizio welcomes applications for topics  relating to the social and cultural history of Late Medieval - Early Modern Italian cities (1350-1600). He is interested in interdisciplinary topics to do with the ritual use of public space, urban identity, the representation and perception of community groups within cities, as well as the relations between commercial and residential spaces, surveillance, natural disasters and Renaissance cities. He is also interested in topics that would address specific cities from interdisciplinary points of view, and continues to have a specialist research interest in the art and architecture of Siena.

A parallel research interest looks at digital humanities in relation to site-specific narrative and the ways that geo-locative technologies can redefine research questions regarding the history of public space, and facilitate public engagement with it.

Research students

Cristina Mosconi, "Geo-locating the spatial and architectural history of pre-modern cities" (working project title, REACT PhD)

Lydia Fisher, "Visualising Faith: Stained Glass Windows, Belief and the Parish in the English Church 1400-1600" (Supervised with Prof James Clark)

Sarah Spencer, "The Impact of the Venetian Republic on the piazze of its subject towns on the Terraferma and the Stato da Màr" (Supervised with Prof Maria Fusaro)

Estrella Torrico Cuadrado, "The Talking Statues of Venice, Florence and Naples and their impact on public spaces during the Early Modern Age" (Supervised with Prof Stephen Hodge)

Anna McGee, 'Dynamic Interiors: Transitional and Liminal Spaces in Florence’s Early Modern Palazzi' (Collaborative Doctoral Partnership PhD, co-supervised with Dr Caroline Campbell, Director of Collections and Research · ‎The National Gallery, London)

Luca Brunke, 'Research-based 3D modelling for built heritage environments: dynamic data linkage, interoperability and the documentation of uncertainty' (Collaborative Doctoral Partnership PhD, co-supervised with Joe Padfield, Principal Scientist, ‎The National Gallery, London)

Completed

Rocky Ruggiero, “Santo Spirito, Florence: Brunelleschi, the Opera and the Quartiere”

Paul Willis, "Sir Joshua Reynolds' Italian Sketchbooks and their influence on his early portraiture (1752-1768)" (Second supervisor. First supervisor: Dr Melissa Percival)

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Publications

Copyright Notice: Any articles made available for download are for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the copyright holder.

| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2000 | 1999 |

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

  • Nevola F. (2017) Becoming an Architect in Renaissance Italy. Art, Science and the Career of Baldassarre Peruzzi, BURLINGTON MAGAZINE, volume 159, no. 1369, pages 320-321. [PDF]
  • Nevola F. (2017) Constructing Marginality in the Early Modern European City Afterword, PLACE OF THE SOCIAL MARGINS, 1350-1750, pages 203-210. [PDF]
  • Nevola FJD. (2017) ‘Surveillance and the street in Renaissance Italy’ translation of an article into Chinese by Yun Pen, 《意大利文艺复兴时期的街道监视与控制》一文原载于哈佛大学意大利文艺复兴研究中心出版的刊物《意大利文艺复兴研究》，16期，1/2号。作者法布里奇奥•内沃拉教授是英国埃克塞特大学人文学院教授。本文的翻译与发表已经过作者本人与Villa I Tatti授权。本文中文译者系中央美术助理研究员彭筠博士，文章发表于《世界美术》杂志2016年9月刊，刊物由中央美术学院出版发行。, World Art (published by China Central Academy of Fine Art), pages 103-112.
  • Nevola FJD. (2017) Review of Ann C. Huppert, Becoming an Architect in Renaissance Italy. Art, Science and the Career of Baldassarre Peruzzi, Burlington Magazine, volume 159, pages 320-321.
  • Nevola FJD, Nelson JK. (2017) ‘Space in Renaissance Italy: Summer Seminars in Florence,’, Italian Renaissance and China, China Social Science Press, 1-12.
  • Nevola F. (2017) ‘Afterword: Constructing marginality in the early modern European city’, The Place of the Social Margin, 1350-1750, Routledge, 203-210.

2016

2015

  • Nevola F. (2015) Urban responses to disaster in renaissance Italy: Images and rituals, The Wounded City: The Representation of Urban Disasters in European Art (XV-XX Centuries), Brill.
  • Nevola F. (2015) Construire la ville de la Renaissance. L'exemple siennois, La forme de la ville, Acts of the International Conference (7-9 November 2011), Presses Universitaires de Rennes. [PDF]

2014

  • Nevola F. (2014) Building the Picture: Architecture in Italian Renaissance Painting, BURLINGTON MAGAZINE, volume 156, no. 1338, pages 614-615. [PDF]
  • Nevola FJD. (2014) Review of Building the Picture, exhibition at the National Gallery, London, Burlington Magazine, no. CLVI, 2014, pages 614-615.
  • Nevola FJD. (2014) Review of Konrad Eisenbichler, The Sword and the Pen: Women, Politics, and Poetry in Sixteenth-Century Siena, The Medieval Review. [PDF]
  • Nevola FJD. (2014) Review of Anabel Thomas, Garrisoning the Borderlands of Medieval Siena, Speculum: a journal of Medieval studies, no. 89.2 (2014), pages 551-553, DOI:10.1017/S0038713414000451.
  • Nevola FJD. (2014) Review of Guido Guerzoni, Apollo and Vulcan. The art markets in Italy, Burlington Magazine, no. CLVI, 2014.
  • Nevola F. (2014) Picturing disaster in Renaissance Italy, Learning from Disaster from Antiquity to Early Modern Times, Verlag Schnell und Steiner, 99-112.

2013

2012

  • Nevola F. (2012) Money and Beauty: Bankers, Botticelli and the Bonfire of the Vanities, BURLINGTON MAGAZINE, volume 154, no. 1306, pages 63-64. [PDF]
  • Nevola F. (2012) Tales of the City: Outsiders’ Descriptions of Cities in the Early Modern Period, Special issue, Città e Storia, 7.1 (2012).
  • Nevola F. (2012) Review of Money and Beauty, exhibition at the Palazzo Strozzi, Florence,, Burlington Magazine, volume 154, pages 63-64.
  • Nevola F, Renzulli E, Bardati F. (2012) Introduction: Tales of the City: Outsiders' Descriptions of Cities in the Early Modern Period, Citta e Storia, volume 7, pages 3-8, article no. 1. [PDF]
  • Nevola F. (2012) Lost in translation: The urban setting of Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini's story of two lovers, Citta e Storia, volume 7, no. 1, pages 9-25.

2011

  • Nevola F. (2011) Review: Prato: Architecture, Piety, and Political Identity in a Tuscan City-State by Alick M. McLean, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, volume 70, no. 2, pages 261-262, DOI:10.1525/jsah.2011.70.2.261.
  • Nevola F. (2011) Review of A. McLean, Prato: Architecture, Piety, and Political Identity in a Tuscan City-State,, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, volume 70.2, pages 261-262.
  • Nevola F. (2011) "El Papa non verrà:" The failed triumphal entry of Leo X de Medici to Siena (November 1515), Sixteenth Century Journal, volume 42, pages 427-446, article no. 2. [PDF]
  • Nevola F, Rosenthal D. (2011) Project website for AHRC funded ’Early Modern Urban Communities Research Review’. [PDF]
  • Nevola F, Rosenthal D. (2011) Urban communities in early modern Europe (1400-1700): A Research Review, Arts and Humanities Research Council. [PDF]
  • Nevola F. (2011) Home shopping: Urbanism, commerce, and palace design in Renaissance Italy, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, volume 70, no. 2, pages 153-173, DOI:10.1525/jsah.2011.70.2.153.
  • Nevola F. (2011) "El Papa non verrà": The failed Triumphal entry of Leo X de' medici into Siena, Sixteenth Century Journal, volume 42, no. 2, pages 427-443.

2010

2009

  • Nevola F. (2009) Capitol. Story of a monument to civil papal Rome, BURLINGTON MAGAZINE, volume 151, no. 1278, pages 620-621. [PDF]
  • Nevola F. (2009) Strategie abitative dell’élite senese tra ’400 e ’500: politica, alleanze ed architettura, L?ultimo secolo della repubblica di Siena: arti cultura e società, Acts of the International Conference, Siena (28-30 Sept. 2003 and 16-18 Sept. 2004), Accademia Senese degli Intronati, 137-152. [PDF]
  • Nevola F. (2009) Ordering the piazza del Campo in Siena, Medieval Italy: Texts in Translation, Penn State University Press, 261-264. [PDF]
  • Nevola F. (2009) Francesco Patrizi: umanista, urbanista e teorico di Pio II, Pio II Piccolomini: Il papa del rinascimento a Siena, Acts of the International Conference, Siena, 5-7 May 2005, Alsaba grafica. [PDF]
  • Nevola F. (2009) Book Review: C. Jean Campbell, The Commonwealth of Nature. Art and poetic community in the age of Dante, Burlington Magazine, volume CLII (1279), pages 680-680. [PDF]
  • Nevola F. (2009) Review of Il Campidoglio. Storia di un monumento civile di Roma papale, A. Bedon, The Burlington Magazine, volume CLI, pages 470-471, article no. 1278. [PDF]

2008

2007

  • Nevola F. (2007) At home in Renaissance Italy, BURLINGTON MAGAZINE, volume 149, no. 1246, pages 56-58. [PDF]
  • Nevola F. (2007) Siena: Constructing the Renaissance City, Yale University Press. [PDF]
  • Syson L, Angelini A, Jackson P, Nevola F. (2007) Renaissance Siena: Art for a City, National Gallery Publications. [PDF]
  • Nevola F. (2007) Il palazzo Chigi alla Postierla: sistemazione urbana e genesi del progetto, Il Palazzo Chigi Piccolomini alla Postierla. Vol. 6, Ali Editoria & Comunicazione, 26-43. [PDF]
  • Nevola F. (2007) Civic Identity and Private Patrons in Renaissance, Renaissance Siena: Art for a City, National Gallery Publications, 16-29. [PDF]
  • Nevola F. (2007) Palaces, shops and clientage clustering in early modern Siena, Citta e Storia, volume 2, no. 2, pages 365-379.

2006

  • Nevola F. (2006) Shopping in the Renaissance: Consumer cultures in Italy, 1400-1600, BURLINGTON MAGAZINE, volume 148, no. 1242, pages 633-633. [PDF]
  • Nevola F. (2006) "Più honorati et suntuosi ala Republica": Botteghe and Luxury Retail along Siena?s Strada Romana, Buyers and Sellers: Retail Circuits and Practices in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, Turnhout, 65-78. [PDF]
  • Nevola F. (2006) Lots of Napkins and a Few Surprises: Francesco di Giorgio Martini?s House, Goods and Social Standing in Late-Fifteenth-Century Siena, Annali di Architettura, volume 18-19 ?2006-7?, pages 71-82. [PDF]
  • Jackson P, Nevola F. (2006) Beyond the Palio: urbanism and ritual in Renaissance Siena, Renaissance Studies, volume 20, pages 137-146, article no. 2, DOI:10.1111/j.1477-4658.2006.00192.x. [PDF]
  • Jackson P, Nevola F. (2006) Beyond the Palio: Urbanism and ritual in renaissance Siena, Renaissance Studies, volume 20, no. 2, pages 137-146, DOI:10.1111/j.1477-4658.2006.00192.x.
  • Nevola F. (2006) Ritual geography: Housing the papal court of Pius II Piccolomini in Siena (1459-60), Renaissance Studies, volume 20, no. 2, pages 201-224, DOI:10.1111/j.1477-4658.2006.00196.x.
  • Nevola F. (2006) Lots of napkins and a few surprises: Francesco di Giorgio Martini's House, goods and social standing in late-fifteenth-century Siena, Annali di Architettura, volume 18-19, pages 71-82.
  • Nevola F, Jackson P. (2006) Introduction, 127-137. [PDF]

2005

  • Nevola F. (2005) Andrea Palladio and the Veneto villa from Petrarch to Carlo Scarpa, BURLINGTON MAGAZINE, volume 147, no. 1228, pages 510-511. [PDF]
  • Nevola F. (2005) The Palazzo Spannocchi: Creating Site and Setting in Renaissance Sienese Architecture, Renaissance Siena: Art in Context. Vol. 71, Truman State University Press, 141-156. [PDF]

2004

  • Nevola F. (2004) Le patronage architectural du pape Pie II Piccolomini à Sienne, Médiévales, volume 47, pages 139-152. [PDF]

2003

2000

1999

  • Nevola F. (1999) Siena nel Rinascimento: sistemi urbanistici e strutture istituzionali (c. 1400-1520), Bullettino Senese di Storia Patria, volume CVI, pages 44-67. [PDF]

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External impact and engagement

Fabrizio  worked with colleagues at the National Gallery in London, on the exhibition Renaissance Siena: Art for a City (October 2007- January 2008). His research on 'Street Life' and the more recent 'Taverns project' have involved various forms of consultation and engagement with policy advisers, think tanks, local authorites and other interest groups, as well as a theatre company and sound artists. Some of this work has been funded by the AHRC 'Connected Communities' programme.

His most recent projects have involved a collaboration with digital creative partners in the creation of mobile phone apps. These apps are aimed at a wide audience of the general public and can be downloaded for use. Hidden Florence, is a collaboration with industry-leaders in GPS-triggered city audio tours Calvium Ltd, to create an idiosyncartic guide to Renaissance Florence in the form of a mobile phone App, published in August 2014. You can download the App free from AppStore or Google Play. You can also watch a short film about the project here. Hideen Florence and the more recent locative 3D app, Hidden Florence 3D have been produced in collbaoration with the National Gallery and various partner institutions in Florence. These award winning apps also featured on the popular Channel 4 TV show presented by Richard Ayoade, 'Travel Man'.

Since 2018 he is a coinvestigator on the VISTA AR European research project, based at Exeter Business School, to develop, implement and evaluate a range of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) experiences for a number of heritage sites in the South West (England) and Brittany (France).
 

Contribution to discipline

Fabrizio is book reviews editor (pre 1800) for the Open Access journal Architectural Histories (formerly newsletter of the European Architectural Historians Network), and is a regular contributor of book reviews to various journals including the Burlington Magazine. He is a member of the AHRC peer review college, and has conducted peer review work for the Italian research assessment (ANVUR) and the European ERC for art/architectural history.  

Areas of innovation in his work are around the value of cross-chronological discussion between past and present, as shown in a number of recent funded research projects. Most recently he has also explored the value of dynamic, GPS-triggered historical research and dissemination in the form of mobile phone apps applied to urban social and cultural history of Renissance cities (Hidden Florence). This promises to open up entirely new areas for engagement and research.

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