Profile

Alessandra Cioppi works at the Italian National Research Council (CNR) since 1984, and she is currently a senior researcher of the Institute for Studies on the Mediterranean (ISMed), in Milan. 

She graduated summa cum laude in Classics Literature and Medieval History in 1983 at the University of Cagliari and specialized in Archival Studies, Paleography and Diplomatic Studies of the School of Italian State Archives at the State Archive of Cagliari in 1985. Since 1984 she has been a researcher at the CNR-IRII ‒ Institute of Studies on Italian-Iberian relations in Cagliari, today known as CNR-ISEM ‒ Institute of History of Mediterranean Europe. 

Her research areas include the history of the Crown of Aragon and its expansion in the Mediterranean Sea with a particular look at Sardinia, which becomes a privileged observatory. She deals with the edition of Italian-Iberian documentary sources and pays particular attention to the analysis of institutional, social and cultural aspects, as well as the study of migratory flows and the dynamics deriving from the meeting-clash between different cultures and identities.  

Project leadership and executive activities: 

• From 2014 to 2016 she was Scientific Director of the CNR-ISEM project Mediterranean migrations. History, cultures and migratory reality between the Middle Ages and the Contemporary Age in the disciplinary area “Mediterranean Migration Studies” ‒ CNR-DSU and ISEM representative of “European Migration Network” (EMN-Italy) ‒ CNR-DSU. 

• Since 2014 she has been part of the CNR NUTRHEFF Network for communication and technological transfer on studies of the history of nutrition and foods, spices and herbs, their migration, the circulation of uses and knowledge. 

• Since 2016 she has been Scientific Director of the CNR ‒ MASAF multidisciplinary macro project: Migrations & the Mediterranean. The Sardinia Observatory. 

• From 2017 to 2016 she was Scientific Director of the CNR ‒ MASAF ‒ UniBo multidisciplinary and interdepartmental project: The horti over time. Culture and cultivation of vegetable gardens in the name of civilizations and change. From the hortus monasticus to urban gardens. 

Since 2018 she has been Scientific Director of the CNR ‒ MASAF pluridisciplinary projects: 

• Multihortis: Training and practices of social and work integration in cases of migration and territorial mobility in the Mediterranean; 

• Filhortis: History of horticultural products and their current production and distribution: know-how as a system of work integration, learning and transmission of a trade. 

Since 2019 she has been Scientific Director of the CNR-MASAF multidisciplinary project: URBES RURA. Forms, processes, urban-rural mobility in Mediterranean Europe and editor in chief of the homonymous series, published by Pacini Editore. 

From 2022 to 2023 she was a research partner in building up the exhibition L’altro Rinascimento. Ulisse Aldrovandi e le meraviglie del mondo (Bologna, Palazzo Poggi, 8 December 2022-28 May 2023) for the 500-year birth celebrations of Ulysses Aldrovandi. 

She is a member of the Editorial Board of the Imago Temporis. Medium Aevum (Edicions Universitat de Lleida); Notiziario Dal Mediterraneo agli Oceani. 

Among the various institutional roles held there are: 

• From 1988 to 2002 she was a member of the CNR Institute of Studies on Italian-Iberian relations’ scientific committee; from 2008 to 2015 she was a member of the CNR Institute of History of Mediterranean Europe’s scientific committee. 

• From 2019 to 2020 she was the Director pro tempore of the Institute of History of Mediterranean Europe (ISEM) of the National Research Council. 

• Since 2019 she has been member of the academic international board for the PhD in History, Cultural Heritage and International Studies at the University of Cagliari. 

• From 2012 to 2023 she was the Director of the online series: Europe and the Mediterranean. History and images of an international community, available on the Torrossa Online Digital Bookstore platform. 

She was also tutor and scientific manager for the Institute of History of Mediterranean Europe’s training activities. She has been member of various CNR examination boards. To date she has served as reviewer for edition of international volumes and journals.

Publications

She produced numerous essays in national and international scientific journals, chapters in miscellaneous volumes, monographies, edited books and book reviews. Among the publications produced after 2000 there are: 

Monographs 

• Battaglie e protagonisti della Sardegna medioevale, AM&D Edizioni, Cagliari, 2008, ISBN 978-88-95462-15-8. 

• Le strategie dell’invincibilità. Corona d’Aragona e Regnum Sardiniae nella seconda metà del Trecento, Cagliari, AM&D Edizioni, 2012, ISBN 978-88-95462-50-9 

Edited books 

• Sardegna e Catalogna officinae d’identità: Riflessioni storiografiche e prospettive di ricerca. Studi in memoria di Roberto Coroneo, ISEM-CNR, Cagliari, 2013, ISBN 978-88-97317-09-8. 

• L’orto, alimento dell’anima e del corpo. Dall’hortus monasticus agli orti urbani (a cura di Alessandra Cioppi e Maria Elena Seu), Pacini Editore, Pisa, 2020, ISBN 978-88-6995-831-1. 

• Le buone pratiche del sistema di Accoglienza. Casi studio (a cura di Alessandra Cioppi e Maria Elena Seu), Pacini Editore, Pisa, 2022, ISBN 979-12-5486-067-0.

Articles on books and journals

• I registri di Jordi de Planella “battle general” di Sardegna. Note sull’amministrazione di un ufficiale regio alla fine del XIV secolo, in La Corona catalanoaragonesa i el seu entorn mediterrani a la baixa edat Mitjana, Barcelona, CSIC, 2005, pp. 23-63, ISBN 84-00-08330-X. 

• Il Regnum Sardiniae et Corsicae nei primi del Trecento attraverso un inedito resoconto di Ramon ça Vall, in Studi in onore di Francesco Cesare Casula, Genova, Brigati 2009, pp. 47-84, ISBN 978-88-87822-49-6. 

• La riedizione di una fonte sulla Sardegna catalana: il cosiddetto Repartimiento de Cerdeña, in «RiMe», 4 (giugno), 2010, pp. 221-236, ISSN 2035-794X, ISBN 9788897317845. 

• Corona d’Aragona e Sardegna. Un paradigma nel Mediterraneo basso medioevale, in Sardegna e Catalogna officinae d’identità. Riflessioni storiografiche e prospettive di ricerca. Studi in memoria di Roberto Coroneo, Cagliari, ISEM-CNR, 2013, pp. 433-475, ISBN 978-88-97317-09-8. 

• Cerdeña, entre Europa y el Mediterráneo. Continuidad y memoria a través de cuatrocientos años de historia ibérica, in «El que del amistad mostró el camino». Omaggio a Giuseppe Bellini, a cura di P.Spinato Bruschi, Cagliari, ISEM-CNR, 2013, pp. 41-64, ISBN 978-88-97317-13-5. 

• L’ordinamento istituzionale del Regnum Sardiniae et Corsicae nei secoli XIV e XV, in Sardegna catalana, a cura di A.M. Oliva e O. Schena, Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 2014, pp. 105-135, ISBN 978-84-9965-216-0. 

• The role of the Batlle General and Acquafredda Castle in late 14th century Regnum Sardiniae in «Imago Temporis. Medium Aevum», IX, 2015, pp. 287-303, ISSN 1888-3931, DOI 10.21001/itma.2015.9.13. 

• I sistemi di difesa nella Sardegna medievale. Committenze e strategie, in Verso un Atlante dei sistemi difensivi della Sardegna, a cura di D. Fiorino e M. Pintus, Giannini Editore, Napoli, 2015, pp. 109-116, ISBN 978-88-7431-799-8. 

• Castell de Càller e il problema della sua difesa tra XIV e XV secolo, in Identità e Frontiere. Politica, economia e società nel Mediterraneo (secc. XIV-XVIII), a cura di L.J. Guia Marín, M.G. Mele, G. Tore, Milano, Franco Angeli, 2015, pp. 119-127, ISBN 978-88-917-1151-9. 

• La Sardegna basso medioevale: vecchie e nuove fonti, in Ricordando Alberto Boscolo. Bilanci e prospettive storiografiche, a cura di M.G. Meloni, A.M. Oliva, O. Schena, Viella, Roma, 2016 pp. 181-196, ISBN 978-88-6728-611-9. 

• Islands and the Control of the Mediterranean Space. The “Catalan” Power in the Mediterranean Islands (Capter 12), in The Crown of Aragon. A Singular mediterranean Empire, F. Sabaté ed., Brill, Leiden-Boston, 2017, pp. 337-360. 

• Distribuzione e commercio dei cereali nel Mediterraneo basso medioevale. Il grano a Castell de Càller dal XIV al XV secolo, in Sa Massaria. Ecologia storica dei sistemi di lavoro contadino in Sardegna tra Medioevo ed Età moderna, a cura di C. French, R.T. Melis, G. Serreli, F. Sulas, Cagliari, CNR-ISEM, 2017, I, pp. 249-294, ISBN 978-88-97317-33-3. 

• The catalan–Aragonese Regnum Sardiniae et Corsicae and the Giudicato of Arborea in the fourteenth century, in Sardinia from the Middle Ages to Contemporaneity. A case study of a Mediterranean island identity profile, L. Gallinari ed., Peter Lang, 2018, pp. 45-56, ISBN 978-3-0343-3518-8. 

• A Land of Migrants in the Mediterranean. Iberian Migratory Flows in Sardinia between the 12th and 15th Centuries, in «Imago Temporis. Medium Aevum», XII, 2018, pp. 237-252, ISSN 1888-3931, DOI 10.21001. 

• Fra’ Giusto di Santa Maria. Da nobile guerriero a frate ingegnere nella Cagliari del XVII secolo in Centri di potere nel Mediterraneo occidentale. Dal Medioevo alla fine dell’Antico Regime, a cura di L.J. Guia Marín, M.G. Mele, G. Serreli, Roma, Franco Angeli Editore, 2018, pp. 161-168; ISBN 9788891752840. 

• Mobility, interculturality and institutional dynamics. Cagliari Castle open and closed city in the Medieval Mediterranean (13th-15th Centuries), in The Global City. The urban condition as a pervasive phenomenon, tomo B: “Open Cities, Closed Cities. Institutions, Policies, Competition, Rights”, a cura di P. Battilani, A. Maglio, L. Mocarelli, chapter B/4, Torino, AISU International, 2020, pp. 391-402, ISBN 978-88-31277-01-3. 

• From “hortus monasticus” to vegetable urban gardens. The “hortus” model of spirituality, sharing and production in the variety of the medieval landscape, in The Global City. The urban condition as a pervasive phenomenon, tomo G: City and Environment in the Era of Anthropocene and Globalization”, a cura di S. Adorno e R. Milani, chapter G/2, Torino, AISU International, 2020, pp. 21-30, ISBN 978-88-31277-01-3. 

• Voce Alberto Boscolo, in Vislumbres de España, Italia e Iberoamérica Una constelación escogida de protagonistas de nuestra historia común. Diccionario biográfico, Embajada de España en Italia–Oficina Cultural, Roma, 2020, vol. I, pp. 152-155, ISBN 978-84-09-26440-7. 

• L’orto oltre l’orto. Coltura e cultura dell’orto nel Medioevo, in L’orto, alimento dell’anima e del corpo. Dall’hortus monasticus agli orti urbani, a cura di A. Cioppi e M.E. Seu, Pacini Editore, Pisa, 2020, pp. 19-40, ISBN 978-88-6995-831-1. 

• Un percorso storico e un modello gastronomico. La Sardegna e l’obra de pasta nel Mediterraneo del XIV-XV secolo, in Proposte e ricerche, anno XLIII, n. 85 (estate/autunno), 2020, EUM-Macerata University Press, Macerata, 2021, pp. 11-22, ISSN 0392-1794, ISBN 978-88-6056-739-0. 

• The Crown of Aragon and the Regnum Sardiniae et Corsicae in the Fourteenth Century: Comparing Institutional Identities, in Identity in the Middle Ages. Approaches from Southwestern Europe, F. Sabaté ed., Arc Humanities Press, Leeds (UK), 2021, part four, chapter 16, pp. 329-345, ISBN (print) 9781641892582; ISBN (pdf) 9781641892599. 

• Il progetto di edizione delle Carte Reali dell’Archivio della Corona d’Aragona e i conflitti fra potere centrale e potere periferico nel Regnum Sardiniae et Corsicae: un caso studio. I. Un progetto di edizione: le carte reali di Martino I, re d’Aragona, riguardanti l’Italia, in La comunicación social en la Europa medieval, a cura di M^a. de la Encarnación Martín López e J. M. de Francisco Olmos, Editorial Dykinson S.L., Madrid, 2021, pp. 43-50, ISBN 978-84-1377-971-3. 

• 9 giugno 1326. Nasce Castell de Càller «capitale del Regnum Sardiniae», in I giorni di Cagliari, a cura di M. Corona, prefazione di B. Severgnini, Akademeia Editore, Cagliari, 2021, pp. 49-65, ISBN 9788894640724. 

• La memoria della capitale giudicale S. Igia nella documentazione del tardo Medioevo, in Città tra mare e laguna: da Santa Gilla a Cagliari. Aspetti archeologici, geologici, storici, insediativi e sociali, a cura di R. Martorelli, G. Serreli, M.G. Mele, S. Nocco, Resoconti/7, UNICApress, Cagliari, 2023, vol. I, pp. 91-102, ISBN 978-88-3312-088-1.

Projects

As part of the multidisciplinary scientific activity “The Mediterranean and the Oceans: cultural transformations, between history, literature and religion” which characterizes the lines of research of the ISMed in Milan, she as started the following specific projects: 

• She promotes a study on food and the anthropology of food from the Middle Ages to the contemporary age, as part of the Multihortis CNR-MASAF project, in collaboration with the master course at the University of Bologna, to implement the social and cultural impact of knowledge and scientific activities carried out. 

• She started a project on the history of the Asinara island from its origins to the present day, which includes the study of its historical-artistic and naturalistic heritage. The research is developed within the Filhortis and Urbes Rura projects, in collaboration with the regional Agency Conservatoria delle Coste of Sardinia. 

• She carries out research on the implementation of the second phase of the training course on the Migrants Reception System as part of the Migrations & Mediterranean project. The objective is to develop reflections on contemporary migratory issues and suggestions for the development of specific reception tools and good practices for migrations operators and for the effective social integration of migrants.