Introduction
The panel exhibition “Sapienza in Albania, one hundred years since Luigi Maria Ugolini’s first visit to Albania” was created with the intention of sharing with students and colleagues from Sapienza and beyond a journey that began recently: that of the activities of the joint Italian-Albanian Archaeological Mission at the site of Çuka e Ajtoit, the ‘Eagle’s Mountain’, a pointed hill located at the extreme southern edge of Albanian territory, close to the border with Greece.
The impetus for launching this new communication channel, alongside the more traditional tools of scientific communication such as conferences and publications, came from the acquisition in February 2024 of a small photographic collection that belonged to the Italian archaeologist Luigi Maria Ugolini, the excavator of Phoinike, Butrint, and also Çuka e Ajtoit — three important centres in the northernmost region of ancient Epirus, Chaonia, which is still the subject of scientific interest among Italian scholars today.
2024 also marks the centenary of this Italian archaeologist’s first visit to Albania, a visit that preceded the excavation campaigns of the following years. The exhibition was made possible thanks to the financial support of Wikimedia Italia, which enabled the complete digitisation of the collection and its online publication. The exhibition thus aims to offer a brief account of the long diachrony of the fortified site of Çuka e Ajtoit, from its earliest period up to the present day, with particular attention to the activities of Luigi Maria Ugolini and to the more recent, systematic work of Sapienza Università di Roma in collaboration with the Institute of Archaeology of Tirana, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Italian Republic and the support of the Embassy of the Republic of Albania in Rome.
The exhibition was organised by the Italian-Albanian Archaeological Mission (Sapienza Università di Roma and the Institute of Archaeology of Tirana) at Çuka e Ajtoit, with the support of the Wikimedia Foundation and in collaboration with the Embassy of the Republic of Albania in Italy.
Setup and visiting
- The exhibition was first put on display on 27 November 2024 on the occasion of the celebration event for the national holidays of the Republic of Albania on 28 and 29 November (Flag Day and Liberation Day), at Palazzo di Ripetta, organised by the Embassy of the Republic of Albania in Italy.
- From 9 December 2024 to 31 January 2025, the exhibition can be visited at the premises of the Museo di Arte Classica of Sapienza Università di Roma (Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00189 Rome). This installation was inaugurated on 13 December 2024, in the presence of the director of the SARAS Department Alessandro Saggioro, the Ambassador of the Republic of Albania in Italy H.E. Anila Bitri Lani, the Head of Section II: Archaeology, DGDP VI MAECI Gianluca Biscardi, the director of the SARAS Department library Roberto Raieli, the director of Sapienza’s Mission in Albania Julian Bogdani, along with colleagues, friends and students.
- A digital version of the content intended for online publication is also being prepared, and will be accessible from this page.
Further possible installations of the exhibition will be announced on this page in the future.
For information, please write to julian.bogdani@uniroma1.it.