Conferences and Events Program
Institutional conference
Claudia Manenti is an architect who graduated first in Florence and then at the Bologna University at the Architecture and Spatial Planning Department. It is here that Claudia Manenti achieved her PhD, which was about Places of identity and spaces of the holy in the contemporary European city. During her career, she was professor at the Architecture Faculty of Ferrara and Cesena.
Since 2008 she has been director of Dies Domini Centro Studi per l'architettura sacra, and la città della Fondazione Lercaro of Bologna. According to that, she organizes many conferences and meetings about the liturgical architecture. She is also member of the holy art Commission of both Bologna and Ravenna Dioceses.
Since 2008 she has been professor of Introduction to the liturgical architecture at the Bologna Pontifical Regional Seminary.
She has published several articles and essays, such as Architecture of temporary churches, BUP, Bologna, 2016; Places of identity and spaces of the holy in the contemporary European city, edited by FrancoaAngeli, Milan 2012; Cardinal Lercaro and the contemporary city (edited by) Editrice Compositori, Bologna, 2010; and Church and city fifty years after the Second Vatican Council (edited by) BUP, Bologna 2016.
In the meanwhile, she has been editing the series of publications of Centro Studi per l'architettura sacra della Fondazione Card. Giacomo Lercaro of the Bononia University Press – Bologna. Moreover, during her career she has also worked on several architectural projects and liturgical arrangements.
After studying architecture in Florence, Andrea Dall’Asta joined the Society of Jesus in 1988. Since 2002, he has directed the Galleria San Fedele in Milan and, from 2008 to 2020, the Raccolta Lercaro in Bologna. In 2014, he founded the Museo San Fedele. Itinerari di arte e fede (San Fedele Museum: Journeys of Art and Faith) in Milan. His focus is on the relationship among art, liturgy, and architecture. He has participated in important projects such as the liturgical adaptations of the cathedral of Reggio Emilia (2011) and the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta in Gallarate (2018), the creation of the Ambrosian Gospel Book (2011), the Vatican Pavilion for the Venice Biennale (2013), and the section Disegnare il sacro (Drawing the Sacred) at the Venice Architecture Biennale (2014). He writes for several newspapers and magazines, including Avvenire and Civiltà Cattolica. He currently teaches at the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Naples (San Luigi section) and is a contract professor at the Brera Academy. With Àncora, he has published several works: Edward Hopper. Desire and Waiting (2023); Where God Lives. The dwellings of the divine in Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem (2022); The Cross and the Face. Journeys through art, cinema, and theology (revised and expanded edition, 2022); The light color of desire. Journeys through art and architecture, cinema, and theology from Impressionism to today (2021); The Hand of the Angel. Leonardo's Virgin of the Rocks. The Secret Revealed (2019); Light, Splendor of Truth, Journeys through Art, Architecture, and Theology from the Early Christian Era to the Baroque (2018).
He was ordained in 2000, and currently serevs as vicar for the Paolo VI Pastoral Community in Milan, as well as rector of the Montini High School. In his preaching, his books, and his monthly “Passeggiate nella Letteratura dove Dio respira di nascosto” (Walks in Literature where God breathes secretly), he explores the intertwining of wisdom between Sacred Scripture and non-religious literature. His latest publications are "L'amore fa i miracoli. Tra le pagine dei grandi romanzi“ (Love Works Miracles: Among the Pages of Great Novels, Ponte alle Grazie), ”La voce leggera delle pagine“ (The Light Voice of the Pages, Àncora Editrice), ”L'avventura umana. Quando la letteratura accompagna il nostro cammino“ (The Human Adventure: When Literature Accompanies Our Journey, Mondadori), ”L'amore trova il modo“ (Love Finds a Way, Ed. San Paolo) and ”Nel tempo di Dio. Poesia e meditazione per le Ore del giorno" (In God's Time: Poetry and Meditation for the Hours of the Day, Ponte alle Grazie).
Francesco Tedeschi is a full professor of Contemporary Art History in the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, where he founded and directs the Research Centre on Abstract Art in Italy (CRA.IT).
An art historian and critic, his main areas of research concern Italian sculpture of the late nineteenth century, the historical avant-garde and Italian art of the post-war period, from an international perspective and with particular reference to its relationship with art in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. His work also covers interdisciplinary topics, such as the relationship between art and geography.
On several occasions, in his writings on individual authors or in more wide-ranging contributions, he has focused on the spiritual implications of 20th-century and contemporary art. His main contributions in this area have been collected in the volume Qui è altrove. Del sacro e dello spirituale nell'arte contemporanea (Here is Elsewhere: On the Sacred and Spiritual in Contemporary Art), published by Vita & Pensiero, Milan, in 2023.
He was a member of the sacred art commission of the Diocese of Milan from 2012 to 2020 and contributed to the work on the New Ambrosian Gospel Book commissioned by Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi.
ROUND TABLE - Art and literature in dialogue with the sacred
In recent decades, as society has shifted from an aesthetic of contemplation to one of consumption, what role can literature and art play when we open ourselves to the dimension of the sacred? The guests will discuss the themes of “sacred” art and literature, questioning how it is possible today to give space back to works capable of engaging the viewer, allowing them to live an experience full of meaning, in places capable of opening horizons of transcendence.
Moderator:
Claudia Manenti, Director of the CENTRO STUDI PER L'ARCHITETTURA SACRA "Cardinale Giacomo Lercaro” Foundation
Speakers:
Moderator:
Claudia Manenti, Director of the CENTRO STUDI PER L'ARCHITETTURA SACRA "Cardinale Giacomo Lercaro” Foundation
Speakers:
- Andrea Dall'Asta SJ, Director of the S. Fedele Gallery/Museum, Milan
- don Paolo Alliata, Head of the Biblical Apostolate Service of the Diocese of Milan
- Francesco Tedeschi, Full Professor of Contemporary Art History at the Catholic University of Milan
- Does contemporary literature encourage openness to the sacred?
- What is sacred art today?
- Is there a relationship between sacred images and consumer images?
Speakers
Arch. Claudia Manenti
Director of Fondazione CENTRO STUDI PER L'ARCHITETTURA SACRA "Cardinale Giacomo Lercaro”
Claudia Manenti is an architect who graduated first in Florence and then at the Bologna University at the Architecture and Spatial Planning Department. It is here that Claudia Manenti achieved her PhD, which was about Places of identity and spaces of the holy in the contemporary European city. During her career, she was professor at the Architecture Faculty of Ferrara and Cesena.
Since 2008 she has been director of Dies Domini Centro Studi per l'architettura sacra, and la città della Fondazione Lercaro of Bologna. According to that, she organizes many conferences and meetings about the liturgical architecture. She is also member of the holy art Commission of both Bologna and Ravenna Dioceses.
Since 2008 she has been professor of Introduction to the liturgical architecture at the Bologna Pontifical Regional Seminary.
She has published several articles and essays, such as Architecture of temporary churches, BUP, Bologna, 2016; Places of identity and spaces of the holy in the contemporary European city, edited by FrancoaAngeli, Milan 2012; Cardinal Lercaro and the contemporary city (edited by) Editrice Compositori, Bologna, 2010; and Church and city fifty years after the Second Vatican Council (edited by) BUP, Bologna 2016.
In the meanwhile, she has been editing the series of publications of Centro Studi per l'architettura sacra della Fondazione Card. Giacomo Lercaro of the Bononia University Press – Bologna. Moreover, during her career she has also worked on several architectural projects and liturgical arrangements.
Andrea Dall'Asta S.J.
Director of Galleria/Museo S. Fedele, Milano
After studying architecture in Florence, Andrea Dall’Asta joined the Society of Jesus in 1988. Since 2002, he has directed the Galleria San Fedele in Milan and, from 2008 to 2020, the Raccolta Lercaro in Bologna. In 2014, he founded the Museo San Fedele. Itinerari di arte e fede (San Fedele Museum: Journeys of Art and Faith) in Milan. His focus is on the relationship among art, liturgy, and architecture. He has participated in important projects such as the liturgical adaptations of the cathedral of Reggio Emilia (2011) and the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta in Gallarate (2018), the creation of the Ambrosian Gospel Book (2011), the Vatican Pavilion for the Venice Biennale (2013), and the section Disegnare il sacro (Drawing the Sacred) at the Venice Architecture Biennale (2014). He writes for several newspapers and magazines, including Avvenire and Civiltà Cattolica. He currently teaches at the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Naples (San Luigi section) and is a contract professor at the Brera Academy. With Àncora, he has published several works: Edward Hopper. Desire and Waiting (2023); Where God Lives. The dwellings of the divine in Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem (2022); The Cross and the Face. Journeys through art, cinema, and theology (revised and expanded edition, 2022); The light color of desire. Journeys through art and architecture, cinema, and theology from Impressionism to today (2021); The Hand of the Angel. Leonardo's Virgin of the Rocks. The Secret Revealed (2019); Light, Splendor of Truth, Journeys through Art, Architecture, and Theology from the Early Christian Era to the Baroque (2018).
don Paolo Alliata
Director of the Biblical Apostolate Service Diocese of Milan
He was ordained in 2000, and currently serevs as vicar for the Paolo VI Pastoral Community in Milan, as well as rector of the Montini High School. In his preaching, his books, and his monthly “Passeggiate nella Letteratura dove Dio respira di nascosto” (Walks in Literature where God breathes secretly), he explores the intertwining of wisdom between Sacred Scripture and non-religious literature. His latest publications are "L'amore fa i miracoli. Tra le pagine dei grandi romanzi“ (Love Works Miracles: Among the Pages of Great Novels, Ponte alle Grazie), ”La voce leggera delle pagine“ (The Light Voice of the Pages, Àncora Editrice), ”L'avventura umana. Quando la letteratura accompagna il nostro cammino“ (The Human Adventure: When Literature Accompanies Our Journey, Mondadori), ”L'amore trova il modo“ (Love Finds a Way, Ed. San Paolo) and ”Nel tempo di Dio. Poesia e meditazione per le Ore del giorno" (In God's Time: Poetry and Meditation for the Hours of the Day, Ponte alle Grazie).
Francesco Tedeschi
Full Professor of Contemporary Art History at the Catholic University of Milan
Francesco Tedeschi is a full professor of Contemporary Art History in the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, where he founded and directs the Research Centre on Abstract Art in Italy (CRA.IT).
An art historian and critic, his main areas of research concern Italian sculpture of the late nineteenth century, the historical avant-garde and Italian art of the post-war period, from an international perspective and with particular reference to its relationship with art in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. His work also covers interdisciplinary topics, such as the relationship between art and geography.
On several occasions, in his writings on individual authors or in more wide-ranging contributions, he has focused on the spiritual implications of 20th-century and contemporary art. His main contributions in this area have been collected in the volume Qui è altrove. Del sacro e dello spirituale nell'arte contemporanea (Here is Elsewhere: On the Sacred and Spiritual in Contemporary Art), published by Vita & Pensiero, Milan, in 2023.
He was a member of the sacred art commission of the Diocese of Milan from 2012 to 2020 and contributed to the work on the New Ambrosian Gospel Book commissioned by Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi.
