The Monumentalization of Water in Antiquity, Islam and Renaissance.

International conference organized by Felix Arnold and Julio Navarro, with Sabine Frommel.

Program

1 September 29-October 1, 2025 (Firenze, Accademia delle Arti del Disegno)

Monday, September 29

14:30
Cristina Acidini, president of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno: Benvenuti.
Federica Bergamini, director of Ville e residenze monumentali fiorentine.
Il nuovo museo autonomo delle ville medicee di proprietà statale: obiettivi e prospettive.

14:45
Felix Arnold, architect-archeologist . Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Madrid. Julio Navarro, archeologist. Escuela de Estudios Árabes (CSIC), Granada. Sabine Frommel, art historian. École pratique des hautes études-PSL, Paris.
Introduction – Introducción – Introduzione

15:00
Emanuela Ferretti, histrorian of architecture. Università degli Studi di Firenze.
“Imminutus crevit” e “Optabilior melior”:
La magnificenza dell'acqua nelle opere pubbliche e nei giardini di Cosimo I de' Medici.

15:45
Sara Taglialagamba, art historian. Nuova Fondazione Pedretti, Lamporecchio.
Leonardo e la sinestesia dell’acqua: il suono e le emozioni.

16:30
Teresa Torregrossa, architect, Palermo, Lina Bellanca architect, formerly Soprintendenza Beni Culturali ed Ambientali di Palermo, and Julio Navarro, archeologist . Escuela de Estudios Árabes (CSIC), Granada.
Villa Napoli (Palermo): La continuità di un giardino di delizie e delle sue fonti d'acqua tra X e XVIII secolo.

17:15 Coffee break

17:45
Gu Kai, garden historian. Southeast University, Nanjing.
Tentative Discussion of Mountain-in-Water Scene Making in Late-Ming Gardens from ZHANG Dai's ‘Pavilion of Auspicious Grass Stream’.

18:30
Nicolas Fiévé, historian of architecture. École française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO), Paris.
Landscapes of Water and Mountains in a Seigniorial Garden in Edo period Japan.

Tuesday,  September 30

09:30 Visit to the garden of Castello e Petraia, with Claudia Mezzapesa and Paolo Cova.
12:30 Visit and lunch break at the Medici-villa La Quiete, with Giorgio Galletti.
16:00 Return to Florence.

Wednesday, October 1

09:30     Visit to the Medici-parco di Pratolino, with Lorenzo di Bilio.
14:00     Visit to the Medici-villa at Fiesole, with Giorgio Galletti.
16:00     Return to Florence.

2 October 6-8, 2025 (Granada, Escuela de Estudios Árabes (CSIC))

Monday, October 6
09:00      Registration.
09:30      Welcome.

ANTIQUITY

10:00
Thomas G. Schattner, classical archeologist. Lisbon.
Orígenes de la monumentalización del agua: de Grecia a Roma.

10:45
Giorgio Ortolani, architect. Formerly Roma Tre University.
Modellare il mare: le villae maritimae sul litorale laziale.

11:30 Coffee break

12:00
Rafael Hidalgo and Juan José Algaba, archeologists. Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla.
De la villa tiburtina a Villa Adriana. El agua como instrumento de representación y poder.

12:45
Jesús Acero, archeologist. Universidad de Sevilla.
Fuentes monumentales y ninfeos en las ciudades de Hispania.

13:30
Arabella Cortese, christian archeologist. University FAU Erlangen.
La monumentalizzazione dell´acqua sacra nel Mediterraneo tardoantico orientale: forme, spazi e messa in scena del sacro.

14:15 Lunch break

ISLAM

16:00
Safa Mahmoudian, architect-art historian. Universität Wien.
Water Features in Early Islamic Gardens of Khorasan and Mesopotamia.

16:45
Attilio Petruccioli, architect. Bibliotheca Orientalis, Foligno.
Monumental waterworks in Indo-Islamic architecture.

17:30
Felix Arnold, architect- archeologist. Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Madrid.
Agua en la almunia de al-Rummaniya (Córdoba), s. X, y los orígenes de la monumentalización del agua en Persia.

18:15 Coffee break

18:45
José Miguel Puerta, arabist - art historian. Universidad de Granada.
Fuentes monumentales y festivas en al-Andalus. Literatura y arqueología.

19:30
Luis García and Antonio Orihuela, architects. Escuela de Estudios Árabes, Granada (CSIC).
Estética y monumentalidad del agua en la Alhambra y la almunia del Generalife.

20:15
Gonzalo Sánchez, architect.
La fuente de los Leones de la Alhambra y los surtidores zoomórficos en al-Andalus

Tuesday, October 7

09:00
Pietro Todaro, architect. SIGEA-APS Sicilia-Università degli Studi de Palermo.
L'idraulica del piacere nei parchi arabo-normanni di Palermo.

09:45
Julio Navarro, Pedro Jiménez, archeologists and Irene Zarco, art historian. Escuela de Estudios Árabes, Granada (CSIC).
Los ninfeos en el Genoardo de Palermo. Siglos X-XII.

10:30
Concepción Obón and Diego Rivera, botanists. Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche and Universidad de Murcia.
Las plantas en las arquitecturas del agua en el islam medieval.

11:15 Coffee break

11:45
Ildefonso Ramírez and Loreto Parro, archeologists. Grupo 365, Toledo.
El sistema de elevación de agua en la huerta del convento de San Gil (Toledo): un ejemplo de torre-noria de origen medieval.

RENAISSANCE

12:30
Giorgio Galletti, architect. Florence.
Traces of classical and Islamic hydraulics in the Italian garden of the early Renaissance.

13:15
Sabine Frommel, art historian. École pratique des hautes études-PSL, Paris, and Bruno Bentz, archeologist. OMAGE.
Lo sviluppo dei giardini terrazzati in Italia e in Francia durante il Rinascimento: la magia dell´acqua.

14:00 Lunch break

16:00
Bruce Edelstein, art historian. New York University Florence.
Raccolta e spettacolarizzazione dell’acqua nel Giardino di Boboli

16:45
Manuel Parada, art historian. Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
Los pabellones ninfeo del Renacimiento y sus precedentes clásicos e islámicos.

17:30
Fernando Vela, archeologist. Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura Madrid.
Excavación del pabellón de grutas del Reservado Chico de la Casa de Campo de Madrid.

18:15 Coffee break

18:45
Carlos Plaza, architect. Universidad de Sevilla.
Agua, arquitectura y herencia andalusí en la Sevilla del Renacimiento: La huerta del Rey o la antigua almunia de la Buhayra.

CONCLUSIONS

19:30
Ricardo González, archeologist. Universidad de Paris Nanterre.
José Tito, landscape designer. Universidad de Granada.

Wednesday, October 8   

09:00-11:30 Visit to the surroundings of the Alhambra: The Generalife meadow, with Luis García and Luca Mattei.
11:45-14:15 Visit to the watercourses and pools within the Royal City of the Alhambra, with Antonio Orihuela and Ignacio Martín-Lagos.
11:45-14:15 Visit to the Royal Almunia of the Generalife, with José Tito, Fernando Martínez and Paz Gázquez.

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Contact: Irene Zarco and Carlos Cano (Secretariat), monumental.watergmail.com