Phd in DOCUMENTATION STUDIES, LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE

Research:

Filiberto Ciaglia is a PhD student in Documentary, Linguistic and Literary Sciences (cycle XXXVII), for the Geographical Studies curriculum, at Sapienza University of Rome and an expert in Geography.
He graduated with honours in Historical Sciences in September 2018 from Sapienza, with a thesis on the history of geographical discoveries entitled ‘Septentrio. History of the Northwest Passage: first exploratory phase of Arctic Canada (1498-1600)', he was later a fellow in the University Master's programme in “Sustainable development, resource geopolitics and Arctic studies” at the Italian Society of International Organisation. A former collaborator of the L'Aquila State Archives, since 2020 he has been a consultant at the Italian Geographical Society in the research project on the identification of Protestant missionaries engaged in Southern Africa between 1868 and 1930, with regard to their relations with European geographical societies. In the same year, he was elected councillor in the municipality of Collarmele (AQ) with responsibility for the redevelopment of the historic centre and territorial development.
Since June 2021, he has also been a collaborator in the ‘ProSiMo’ international research project, conducted with the ‘Giuseppe Caraci’ geocartographic laboratory of the University of Roma Tre and the Universidad de Jaén, in the strand of investigation concerning the inhabited centres destroyed or seriously damaged by the 1783 earthquake in southern Calabria.

As part of his doctorate in Geographical Studies, he is engaged in a research project analysing the territorial dynamics of the Media Valle dell'Aterno in the Abruzzo region of L'Aquila during the modern age, with a focus on the use of geo-historical sources (archival fonds, printed documentation and field research) and the use of geo-technologies. The two thematic directions on which the work focuses aim at the reconstruction of the historical landscapes of the valley and the study of the relationship between disasters and the dynamics of territorialisation and deterritorialisation.
As part of the activities of the geography section, he is engaged in research on geographers and geographers who actively collaborated with the former Institute of Geography in the first half of the 20th century. These studies are part of the broader project for the recovery and patrimonialisation of the geo-cartographic heritage of the Museum of Geography at La Sapienza University, to be established in 2022. With respect to the museum dimension, he participates in the running of teaching workshops aimed at first and second grade schools, under the coordination of Professor Sandra Leonardi. Within the geography degree courses, he conducts supplementary teaching activities: since 2022 he has been conducting the seminar ‘Elements of Cartography’ under the supervision of Professor Riccardo Morri, in the courses of Historical Geography and Didactics of Geography. He took part, as a member of the organising board, in the organisation of the GIS Day at the Faculty of Humanities, coordinated by Professor Cristiano Pesaresi, in 2023 and 2024.

Regarding his activities within scientific journals, he is engaged as editor of the column Lo Scaffale in the ‘Semestrale di Studi e Ricerche di Geografia’; he is co-chief editor in the editorial board of the journal ‘J-Reading. Journal of research and didactics in Geography' and member of the editorial board of the journal ’Geostorie. Bollettino e Notiziario del Centro Italiano per gli Studi Storico-Geografici'.

He is a member of the main geographic associations (Italian Association of Geography Teachers, Italian Centre for Historical-Geographical Studies, Association of Italian Geographers, Italian Geographical Society), has published the results of his research in several scientific journals and taken part as organiser and speaker in several national and international conferences. He is the author of the volume ‘Le ascese al Velino e al Sirente nell'Ottocento. Linee di storia dell'esplorazione appenninica' (Ed. Kirke, 2022).