The Project

The Progetto di valorizzazione culturale del patrimonio storico e artistico di Piazza dei Cavalieri (Cultural heritage enhancement project for the historical and artistic heritage of Piazza dei Cavalieri), carried out under the directorship of Luigi Ambrosio, was a Third Mission initiative of the Scuola Normale Superiore, developed in collaboration with Fondazione Pisa.

Launched in January 2022, the three-year Project actively engaged the Normale’s academic and technical-administrative staff, combining scholarly research, civic engagement, and philanthropic action to enhance a site of central importance to Italy’s and Europe’s cultural heritage: Piazza dei Cavalieri in Pisa.

Under the scientific direction of Lucia Simonato, original and interdisciplinary research was conducted on this important urban area, leading to new publications and to the creation of the website Piazza dei Cavalieri. Una storia europea (Piazza dei Cavalieri. A European History).

Building on these investigations, a series of public-engagement activities—entrusted to students of the Normale—communicated the richness of the piazza and its layered historical and artistic heritage, establishing a well-received form of multidirectional dialogue that continues beyond the Project’s original timeframe.