The FRASI project – proposed by the University for Foreigners of Siena, in collaboration with the State Archives of Siena and the Department of Musicology and Cultural Heritage at the University of Pavia – has received funding from the Tuscany Region (Regional ESF+ Programme 2021–2027), as well as co-funding from the Ezio Franceschini Foundation of Florence (ONLUS).
The FRASI project (April 1, 2025 – March 31, 2027) aims to study, catalogue, and provide access to parchment fragments from medieval codices preserved in the State Archives of Siena (ASSi). The project will develop replicable operational models for similar archival contexts, also leveraging new digital technologies (including artificial intelligence) to process data in a coherent and synoptic way.
Recent research, partly carried out within the framework of the ERC Ars Nova European Grant, has highlighted the need for a comprehensive survey of the ASSi’s principal administrative and family collections, an important cultural heritage that remains largely uncatalogued and understudied. Since the early 20th century, previously unknown texts have come to light, enriching our understanding of medieval European languages, cultures, and literatures. These include Italian and French Ars Nova musical settings (14th–15th centuries), Romance-language works from the d’oïl and d’oc areas, and early Italian poetry.
Research output
The FRASI project is structured around three main research areas:
- Survey of parchment covers used to protect administrative registers, originally crafted from dismembered medieval manuscripts (14th–15th centuries), found within the Giusdicenti, Notarial, Judicial, and Convent collections, as well as in various family archives. The cataloguing of these collections will be carried out with the support of Archimista, an open-source software platform for archival publication and development, made available by the Central Institute for Archives (ICAR).
- Manuscript description using artificial intelligence; digitization and publication of previously unpublished texts in open-access critical editions within a Digital Archive associated with the State Archives and the Archival and Bibliographic Superintendencies participating in the project. This Digital Archive will be interoperable with the Mirabile. Digital Archive of Medieval Culture database, promoted by the Ezio Franceschini Foundation (ONLUS) in Florence. Relevant data records will be shared between the two platforms in accordance with their respective research objectives. Any newly discovered musical sources belonging to the Ars Nova corpus will undergo musicological analysis in collaboration with the Department of Musicology and Cultural Heritage of the University of Pavia, and diagnostic analysis at the Arvedi Laboratory for Non-Invasive Diagnostics of the same Department of the University of Pavia.
- Creation of a documentary exhibition, accessible both in person and remotely via virtual reality headset and 360° content, as well as on the ASSi portal through 2D video presentations.