Un progetto per la storia del museo e delle collezioni dei Padri Benedettini di Catania: problemi, prospettive, primi risultati

The paper explores certain aspects of the practice of collecting in Catania in the 18th century, starting from an examination of the collections of the Benedictine monks in the so-called Museum of S. Nicola l'Arena, which is being studied in an ongoing research project led by theFaculty of Classics of the University of Catania. Beginning with a preliminary overview of the first results, particularly with regard to hitherto unknown archive documents, the paper seeks to offer a clearer contextualisation of the ancient collectors in Catania during the first half of the 18th century than hitherto available. At the same time, the paper explores a reconstruction of the history and formative vicissitudes of the Benedictine museum. The aim is also to throw new light on the transformations of the practice of collecting and establishing museums during the 18th and the first half of the 19th century, which also comprised a transformation of the organizational model of knowledge management.