Carmen Belmonte (University of Padua – Bibliotheca Hertziana), Nicola Camilleri (Maynooth University), Bianca Gaudenzi (University of Florence), and Laura Moure Cecchini (University of Padua) for the international conference Colonial Objects: the Material Culture of Italian Colonialism, to be held at the Italian Academy at Columbia University.

Alberto Salietti, On the desk, 1946, oil on plywood, private collection. Courtesy Il Ponte Casa d’Aste)

Organized by an interdisciplinary group of art historians and historians – Laura Moure Cecchini (Università di Padova), Carmen Belmonte (Università di Padova/Bibliotheca Hertziana), Bianca Gaudenzi (Università di Bolzano/Wolfson College, University of Cambridge), and Nicola Camilleri (Maynooth University) – at the Italian Academy at Columbia University on March 26 2026, the international conference “Colonial Objects: The Material Culture of Italian Colonialism” will analyze the impact of objects on the Italian colonial mindset and on consensus-building strategies, as well as on views of race, gender, and nationhood. Through material studies methodologies, the conference aims to interrogate daily objects such as toys, furniture, jewelry, and photographic albums to explore how colonial ideologies circulated in Italy and its colonies.