Doctoral Researcher Filippo Vaccaro

Filippo Vaccaro earned his B.A. degree (December 2019) and M.A. degree (July 2021) from Sapienza University of Rome. His bachelor’s thesis focused on Byzantine history, specifically on Basil I, the founder of the Macedonian dynasty. His mater’s thesis explored the relationship between the Venetian Senate and administrative councils in Crete in the mid-14th century. In the academic year 2020/2021, he participated in the Holy Sepulcher Workshop, preparing for an archaeological excavation led by the Department of Science of Antiquities at Sapienza, which began in 2022. His responsibilities included the study of Medieval Latin and Greek sources from the 4th to the 12th century. His research interests encompass the History of the Medieval Mediterranean, Venice in the Late Middle Ages, Maritime History, and the relations between the Byzantine East and the Latin West.

Since November 2021, he has been a doctoral student at Sapienza University of Rome (in cotutelle with Universität Heidelberg), with a research project on Venetian society in Crete in the 14th century. In pursuit of the objectives of the RTG, Filippo Vaccaro will examine the relationships on the island between the Venetians and the local Greek component, highlighting the peculiarities on enmity in a frontier context: an ambivalent space where identities become more pronounced, yet where there is room for experiences of cultural and religious hybridization, leading to a loosening of the sense of belonging to the motherland for those who had arrived there.