Dr Giulia Bellato

My research focuses on the period A.D. c.700-c.1200 and primarily on the Italian peninsula, while keeping a comparative perspective with other areas of Europe and the Mediterranean. I am interested in the study of medieval urban life in its many facets, but primarily I focus on understanding the ways in which the built environment of urban centres could be used, modified, and conceptualised as part of the day-to-day practice of politics. My work is based on historical and archaeological sources (including archaeology of architecture), as a multidisciplinary approach that uses both textual and material evidence can give us a unique perspective into the medieval city.

The physical structures and the spaces of the city, from regular residential buildings to the more monumental ones, to even the unbuilt areas, were key elements within processes that formulated, expressed, and manifested power, authority, and legitimacy. They also had an important role to play within the construction of group identity. I am particularly interested in studying their use and their conceptualisation by the broader urban community, rather than just by their patrons or builders. Part of my PhD research was dedicated precisely to these themes, as it explored the ways in which social and political competition in medieval cities was expressed and elaborated through violence against the built environment, in particular through the deliberate destruction of houses and other significant buildings.