The EAR Project Team
Academy of Fine Arts of Rome (ABAROMA)
The Academy of Fine Arts of Rome is a leading institution for higher education and research in the field of visual arts. It promotes the study, transmission, and advancement of contemporary creative expression, while fostering the cosmopolitan role of both the city and the Academy itself through the development of cultural exchange networks aimed at mutual artistic and cultural growth.
With roots tracing back to the historic art workshops and Renaissance academies—particularly the Accademia di San Luca—the Academy is committed to preserving traditional artistic methodologies while also advancing research and the application of new techniques and technologies. These efforts aim to enrich its educational offerings, both in formative and creative terms.
The Academy’s academic programmes are organized across three Departments—Visual Arts, Design and Applied Arts, and Art Communication and Education—and include ten Schools: Painting, Sculpture, Decoration, Printmaking, Scenography, Artistic Design for Business, New Technologies for Art, Communication and Promotion of Contemporary Artistic Heritage, Art Education, and Cinema, Photography and Audiovisual Arts.
Project Manager WP1
After graduating with honors in Business Administration from Bocconi University in Milan, Arianna Angelini began her career at Procter & Gamble, where she had the opportunity to work in various international offices and take on roles of increasing responsibility, including an executive position starting in 2006. Throughout her career, she worked in diverse markets including Italy, Western Europe, CEEMEA, the USA, Asia, India, and Australia. With over 20 years of experience in sales and business development, marked by a strong passion for people management, in 2018 she embraced a new challenge in the public sector, joining the MUR AFAM as an administrative-accounting officer. There, she integrates her corporate management experience with the mission of improving efficiency in public education within the AFAM sector.
Scientific Coordinator of the Project
WP1 Coordinator
Beatrice Peria is an art historian with a background in iconology. She has published scholarly studies on the iconography of 16th-century Venetian art, the relationship between word and image, 19th-century Italian and French painting, and artist books. She has collaborated with Il Trovaroma – La Repubblica, RAI’s Education Department, ICCD, and the Molise Superintendency. Since 1989, she has been a tenured professor of Art History at ABA Roma, where she also serves as Head of International Relations. She is an ANVUR system expert, evaluator, and Erasmus Coordinator for over 15 years. She was on the steering committee of the EU4ART (European Universities) and EU4ART_differences (Horizon2020) projects.
Her recent publications include La prospettiva invisibile. Forme visuali della temporalità dell’arte (2022), and essays on Degas and the Vanitas series.
Project Assistant WP1
Angelica Speroni is a researcher at Université Paris 8, where she earned her PhD in Aesthetics, Sciences, and Technologies of the Arts in 2024. She is curator of the Lucia Romualdi Archive and adjunct faculty at ABA Roma for courses in Exhibition Design and Visual Communication (since 2022), previously Aesthetics (2019–2021). Between 2020 and 2023, she worked on the EU4ART project and has taught at Europass Teacher Academy within Erasmus+ since 2023.
She authored and presented at MAXXI in Rome her monograph Raggiungere l’orizzonte (2024).
She has presented at major conferences such as DIMMI (Trento 2024) and CIM (Turin 2024), and curated exhibitions in venues such as Palazzo Venezia, Zisa, Ajutamicristo, Sala Colleoni, and ABA Roma.
WP2 Coordinator
Costanza Barbieri is a professor of Early Modern Art and Drawing History at ABA Roma and a curator of national and international exhibitions from the Renaissance to Modern Art. With two PhDs (Sapienza University of Rome and Rutgers University), she has authored nearly 100 publications on Renaissance visual culture, collecting, contextual iconology, and non-invasive diagnostics.
She participated in EU4ART_differences (Horizon2020), and is on the doctoral board of the National PhD in Visual Arts (Tor Vergata), with a focus on New Technologies for Cultural Heritage. Recent publications include Gli astri benigni di Agostino Chigi (2023).
WP3 Coordinator
Franco Ripa di Meana works in the performing arts, particularly in opera direction and multimedia performance. He has been an actor (with Gaia Scienza by G.B. Corsetti), assistant director (in major Italian and European theatres and festivals), associate director (with Luca Ronconi and Graham Vick), director (over forty productions, including many world premieres), producer (founder of Italy’s first touring opera company, OPERAOGGI), and librettist (Tempo sospeso del volo, music by Nicola Sani).
He has over twenty years of teaching experience (IUAV, Scuola dell’Opera Italiana, Maggio Formazione, Academies of Carrara, Turin, Brera), guiding students in producing performances such as Dido & Aeneas, Donna non rieducabile, The Prague and The Milan Experiment, and Il nemico ritrovato.
He coordinated WP4 of the EU4ART_differences project (Horizon2020) and is a member of the Management Committee for COST Action 23158 – ARTinRARE.
WP4 Coordinator
Dalma Frascarelli holds a PhD and is qualified as Associate Professor. She teaches Early Modern Art at ABA Roma, where she is also Vice Director. She is on the scientific boards of the Istituto Nazionale di Studi Romani and the Biblioteca barocca e dei Lumi series (Argo ed.). She coordinates the PhD in Cultures, Practices and Communication of Visual Arts at ABA Roma.
She has worked in cultural heritage preservation and enhancement for the Ministry of Culture and the Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica. Her research focuses on art between the late 16th and early 18th centuries, collecting, the history of ideas, and art and the Counter-Reformation.
Her publications include Paolo Falconieri tra scienza e arcadia (2012), La Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (2012), and L’arte del dissenso (Einaudi, 2016).
WP5 Coordinator
Veronica Cornacchione is a communications professional with over eight years of international experience in strategic roles requiring coordination, stakeholder management, and collaboration with multicultural teams. Specialized in developing and implementing communication strategies, she has led high-impact campaigns, institutional events, and creative partnerships to enhance the visibility and positioning of global organizations.
She has held key communication roles for the WHO’s Health and Migration Programme, the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) in Sudan and Ethiopia, and the European Regions Research and Innovation Network (ERRIN) in Brussels. In 2019, she was selected for the United Nations Italian Fellowships Programme, supported by the Italian Government and implemented by UNDESA. She holds degrees in Foreign Languages and International Relations and was recently recognized as a Nova Talent.
Expert WP2
Roberto Bellucci is a conservator and restorer who, since 1974, has worked on paintings at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence, where he still collaborates. He is an Honorary Academician of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno (Florence), an associate of CNR-INO, and was a member of the scientific committee for the restoration of Leonardo da Vinci’s La Belle Ferronière at the Louvre.
Author of over 100 scientific articles on conservation and technical issues, he specializes in non-destructive testing, aqueous cleaning methods, and scientific analysis techniques of artworks. He is a leading expert on underdrawing and medieval/renaissance painting techniques, having conducted extensive research on Masaccio, Masolino, Piero della Francesca, Botticelli, Sebastiano del Piombo, Leonardo, among others. He has lectured at institutions such as the Met (NYC), Louvre, National Gallery (London), Kunsthistorisches Institut (Florence), and Yale Conservation Center.
Within the EAR project, he serves as a diagnostic investigation expert.
Expert WP4
Expert WP2
Certified restorer at the ICR in Rome and art historian (La Sapienza), Lorenza D’Alessandro has worked as a freelance professional since 1984 for public and private institutions in Italy and abroad.
Specialized in the conservation of paintings and stone materials, she has restored significant works ranging from archaeology to contemporary art. Since 1986, she has taught at institutions such as ICCROM, Indiana University, and Trinity College Rome, and is currently a professor at the University of Tuscia.
Within the EAR project, she focuses on conservation and restoration, particularly on the creative genesis in artworks and the peculiarities of painting copies.
Expert WP2
Maria Beatrice De Ruggieri holds a PhD in Art History (Sapienza and University of Siena). Her research explores artistic processes through diagnostics and technical sources. She co-founded Emmebi Diagnostica Artistica and has worked extensively on 17th-century Roman and Neapolitan painting, especially Caravaggio and the Baroque.
She has collaborated with international institutions (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Prado, Stockholm University), and taught at Sapienza, Tuscia, Valencia, Stockholm, and currently teaches at Roma Tre.
In the EAR project, she researches compositional processes in 17th-century painting with a focus on diagnostics.
Research Fellow WP3
PhD in Art Theory and Art History from Peking University, Veronica Di Geronimo holds degrees in Art History and Contemporary Art History from Sapienza University of Rome. She curated the exhibition Syncretisms: Dao between East and West at Lo Studiolo and worked at the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome.
In 2022–2023, she served as Junior Scientist at ABA Roma for EU4ART_differences (Horizon2020), where she is currently a postdoctoral researcher.
In the EAR project, she focuses on theoretical and methodological aspects of artistic research, particularly the application of artificial intelligence.
Expert WP4
Museographer, set designer, and multimedia exhibition designer, Giuseppe di Giovanni studied Set Design at ABA Roma and Interior Architecture at ESAM Design Paris, later earning a diploma in Animation Cinema from ABA Napoli.
He began in theatre, then transitioned to exhibition design, joining WPS Multimedia, where he has led museum and multimedia projects for 15 years. He collaborates with cultural institutions and has taught design labs at ABA Roma for several years.
Expert WP2
With a degree in Art History (University of Florence), Cecilia Frosinini worked as a senior art historian at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure (1990–2021). She has held fellowships at CASVA (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.) and teaches at Catholic University Milan, University of Pisa, and University of Florence.
She has served on international scientific committees and for the restoration of Leonardo’s Saint Anne at the Louvre, and is currently on the Uffizi Scientific Committee.
Her research focuses on underdrawing techniques and scientific investigation methods, with over 200 publications. In the EAR project, she acts as an art historian expert, selecting artworks to illustrate the phases from concept to creation.
Research Fellow WP3
Andrea Guidi is a researcher in computational creativity and human-machine interaction, with a PhD in Media and Arts Technology from Queen Mary University of London. As a musician and artist, he has exhibited and performed at international media art festivals, including two editions of Ars Electronica (Linz). He is also an alumni member of the Augmented Instruments Lab at Imperial College London.
In the EAR project, he develops AI-supported teaching strategies aimed at fostering innovation and experimentation in fine arts academies and music conservatories.
Expert WP2
Daniela Luzi earned diplomas in Painting Conservation and Stone Materials Conservation from the Central Institute for Restoration (Rome). In 1986, she founded L’ERRE Consorzio, where she serves as President and Technical Director, working on major mural and architectural restoration projects.
Her notable work includes the pilot intervention on the facade of the Scrovegni Chapel (Padua) and restorations in San Zeno (Verona) and San Carlino alle Quattro Fontane (Rome), recovering Borrominian finishes.
In the EAR project, she contributes case studies exemplifying key phases in the creative process and experimentation with materials and techniques.
Project Assistant WP4
Chiara Picco works in communication and research in the arts. She earned her degree in Museum and Exhibition Communication and Education, and has collaborated with Zètema and the Capitoline Superintendency. Since 2022, she has worked in the Communications Office at ABA Roma, organizing and promoting the institution’s cultural and educational events.
In the EAR project, she designs and implements a dedicated database of doctoral programs in artistic research, mapping national and international higher education offerings.
Project Assistant WP2
Enrolled in the MA in Art History at Roma Tre University since October 2024, Noemi graduated with honors from ABA Roma in Communication and Enhancement of Contemporary Art Heritage.
Her academic focus is on cultural heritage conservation, particularly non-invasive diagnostic techniques, with experience in IR reflectography, XRF, laser profilometry, and UV fluorescence.
In February 2024, she was part of a research team investigating the Spasimo di Sicilia, a copy of Raphael, in collaboration with INFN Roma. This research was the subject of her diploma thesis and was presented at the seminar Research and Development at DAΦNE-L and LASR3 Laboratories.
Brera Academy (ABABRERA)
The Brera Academy, a public university in the heart of Milan founded in 1776, is a hub for art, cultural heritage, and design. It offers a wide range of knowledge and experiences for those who wish to transform their passion for art into a career. Its educational offering covers fields such as new technologies, scenography, design, fashion, curating exhibitions and events, communication and exhibition setups, as well as the enhancement and restoration of artistic and cultural heritage.
Brera is a benchmark for higher artistic education, also thanks to its strong connection with the city of Milan. It is a brand that attracts students, artists, start-ups, creative enterprises, and institutions at both national and international levels.
Florence Academy of Fine Arts (ABAFI)
Established in 1784 by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Pietro Leopoldo, who separated it from the Vasari-founded Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, the Florence Academy of Fine Arts is the oldest public institution in Europe dedicated to artistic study and research. Currently, it is chaired by Giovanni Iovane, art critic and independent curator, and directed by Gaia Bindi, curator and art historian. Approximately 1,800 students are enrolled, coming from all over the world, drawn by a wide range of educational offerings that span from visual arts to applied arts, including museum education and new technologies.
Organized into three departments (Visual Arts; Design and Applied Arts; Communication and Art Education), the Florence Academy of Fine Arts offers first-level academic degree courses (Painting, Sculpture, Decoration, Printmaking, Graphic Design, Set Design, Interior Design, Museum Education, New Art Technologies) and second-level academic degree courses (Painting Methodologies; New Expressive Languages: Decoration, Printmaking, Painting, Sculpture; Illustration; Exhibit Design; Plastic Design for Theatre Set Design; Visual Culture: Art Education, Art Curatorship), as well as professional master’s programs and PhD paths in collaboration with prominent institutions and organizations.
Completing its educational offer is the Scuola Libera del Nudo (Free School of Nude Studies), founded in the 19th century by the Tuscan painter Giovanni Fattori.
Numerous learning opportunities are also organized throughout the year, including workshops, meetings with artists and art professionals, seminars, and exhibition events open to the city.
Conservatory of Music Santa Cecilia (CONSROMA)
The Conservatory of Music Santa Cecilia adopted its current name in 1923 but traces its origins back to the Congregazione de’ Musici di Roma sotto l’invocazione di S. Cecilia, established in 1595.
The Academic Hall houses an organ of exceptional historical and artistic importance, built in 1894 by the Walker company and expanded in 1966 by the Tamburini company. The library, with over 300,000 items, holds 8 incunabula, 10,000 manuscripts, rare printed editions, and phonographic materials.
The Conservatory is recognized, both nationally and internationally, as one of the most prestigious institutions for the quantity and quality of its educational, musical production, and research activities.
Conservatorio Statale di Musica Alfredo Casella dell’Aquila (CONSAQUILA)
The “Alfredo Casella” Conservatoire of Music is a dynamic center for education, artistic production, and musical research, faithful to its innovative vocation. It promotes the DREAM Ph.D. program and leads or participates in numerous national and international projects (PRIN, PNRR, Erasmus+, collaborating within international networks (AEC, RAMI).
It is the lead institution in international projects such as ItARTS, The New Frontiers of Artistic Musical Research, and MUSAE.
As a partner of EAR, it contributes to the analysis of the creative process, the development of digital platforms, and the mapping of artistic research.
Research at “Casella” focuses on transdisciplinary innovation, the enhancement of heritage, and socio-cultural impact.
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN)
The National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) is the national public research body dedicated to the study of the elementary constituents of matter and the fundamental laws of the universe. Its scientific mission is “to promote, coordinate, and conduct scientific research in the fields of nuclear, subnuclear, astroparticle physics, and fundamental interactions, as well as research and technological development relevant to activities in these sectors.”
In Italy, the national research system is composed of public and private entities engaged in scientific and technological research activities. In particular, INFN conducts cutting-edge theoretical and experimental research in the fields of nuclear physics, elementary particles, and astroparticles, in close synergy with major Italian universities and within an international context of intense competition, but above all, of major scientific collaborations.
Università Politecnica delle Marche (UNIVPM)
The Marche Polytechnic University (UNIVPM) is the first technical-scientific university in the Marche region, with its main campus located in Ancona. In the EAR project, the UNIVPM research unit is composed of several research groups from the Department of Construction, Civil Engineering and Architecture (DICEA).
DICEA conducts research in the fields of Civil, Building, and Architectural Engineering, aiming to contribute to the development and dissemination of knowledge useful for improving the safety and resilience of the territory, the productivity and sustainability of the construction sector, and the preservation of cultural heritage. It has been recognized as a Department of Excellence for the periods 2018–2022 and 2023–2027 due to its high scientific productivity and the relevance of its development areas in addressing the most crucial research challenges.
The defined areas are:
1. Heritage Science;
2. Safety of structures, infrastructures, and natural systems;
3. Digital management of construction and the built environment;
4. Climate change and sustainability in construction and transportation.
