The international conference The Awakening of Enceladus marks a key stage of the PRISMA – Pondering Risk and Imagining Resilience: A Digital Atlas of Seismic and Volcanic Events in Literature project, winner of the Return cascade call for Spoke 3-VS3 “Earthquakes and Volcanoes” and coordinated by Prof. Biancamaria Rizzardi (University of Pisa). The project is devoted to the digital mapping of seismic and volcanic events in literature, and to fostering reflection on risk and resilience.
The event offers a transdisciplinary dialogue on geological risk, memory, and disaster narratives, integrating scientific, humanistic and artistic perspectives to promote a critical awareness of contemporary environmental and cultural risks.
The programme includes meetings with writers and artists, three keynote lectures, and six thematic sessions—Gaia, Prometheus, Mnemosyne, Typhon, Atlas, Hephaestus—addressing catastrophic phenomena in their symbolic, social, linguistic, and scientific dimensions. The digital atlas L.A.V.A. – Literary Atlas of Volcanic and seismic Activities will also be presented.
Venues:
17 December – Aula Magna Storica, University of Pisa, Palazzo della Sapienza
18–19 December – Auditorium of Palazzo Blu, Pisa
17 December – Aula Magna Storica, University of Pisa, Palazzo della Sapienza
18–19 December – Auditorium of Palazzo Blu, Pisa
Contacts: prismaconference@fileli.unipi.it.
More info: website.
On the occasion of the opening of the international conference, the Sistema Bibliotecario presents an exhibition curated by Laura Gigli, Cinzia Romagnoli, and Elena Franchini.
The exhibition features a selection of works from the collections of the Sistema Bibliotecario, including Pliny’s Naturalis Historia (1539) and Landino’s commentary on the Divine Comedy (1484), alongside other literary and scientific testimonies, with works—among others—by Voltaire and Humboldt. One section is devoted to local seismic events, such as the 1846 earthquake in Tuscany, and the exhibition concludes with a selection of modern volumes on the subject, available for public consultation.
Following the presentation on 17 December, the exhibition will be open to visitors from 18 December to 30 January 2026 at the Library of Italian studies and Romance Philology (Polo 6).
