Research interests

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.

Research 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)

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'.

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.

Modules taught

• AHV1005 - Inside the Museum
• AHV2208 - Ideal Cities? Urban Cultures of Renaissance Italy
• AHV3000 - Art History and Visual Culture Dissertation
• AHV3002 - Understanding Space in Renaissance Italy