Illuminating History By Alexis Blue and Lori Harwood
Named after a longtime donor, the Charles Young Museum and Exhibition Center will reveal the haunting history of an Italian town, a history uncovered by Professor David Soren’s 30 years of excavations in the region.
The University of Arizona is partnering with an Italian town to create a museum and exhibition center showcasing the area’s storied history – a history that includes a devastating disease outbreak, witchcraft, and magic. UA architecture students are creating exhibitions that tell the story of Lugnano in Teverina, a commune in the province of Terni in the central Umbria region of Italy that was hit hard by malaria in the middle of the fifth century. The students are part of the Arizona in Orvieto (Italy) Study Abroad Program. Their work will be displayed in two churches in the community, which were built in 1587 and currently are being used for storage, pending their renovation. The museum project was conceived by David Soren, a UA Regents’ Professor of anthropology and classics, who also founded the Orvieto Study Abroad Program in 2001. Since 1986, Soren has worked on archaeological excavations in the Lugnano area, where his efforts have earned him honorary Italian citizenship. Working closely with the local government in Lugnano, Soren is co-leading the project with Darci Hazelbaker, a lecturer in the UA College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture. This project is a prime example of the kind of interdisciplinary collaborations that Soren cultivates; he is often actively
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looking for ways to have his work “spin into” other departments. Soren proposed the museum project to Lugnano mayor Gianluca Filiberti as a way to celebrate the town’s history and educate locals and tourists. “I love the town, I love the people, and I love the mayor and his wife,” Soren said. “When I approached them with this idea, they said, ‘Let’s go for it. Let’s do everything we can do to create something for our town.’”
HELP FROM A LONGTIME SUPPORTER The UA received $50,000 to restore the church roof from the Tucson-based Joseph and Mary Cacioppo Foundation. Currently led my Michael-Ann Young, the Cacioppo Foundation has also funded student travel and research for decades. “Michael-Ann, her father, and her grandfather have been supporting my work for 32 years,” Soren said. In recognition of the Cacioppo Foundation’s loyal support, the museum will be named the Charles Young Museum and Exhibition Center, in honor of Michael-Ann’s father. David Pickel received funds from the Cacioppo Foundation when he was working on his master’s degree at the UA. He is now a Ph.D. student at Stanford and the director of excavations for the archaeological dig near Lugnano.
David Soren with his faithful canine companion, Lana. Photo by John de Dios.
“I was fortunate enough to be awarded a Cacioppo Foundation Travel Award for the summer of 2014,” Pickel said. “This award allowed me to travel to Naples, Italy, for the first time, where I participated in a ceramics lab for an archaeological project excavating just below Mt. Vesuvius. I learned so much about Roman ceramics and what they can tell us about the ancient Romans.” Soren’s work is also receiving support from an Italian consortium of towns – or communi – that includes Lugnano, in part by a grant of 170,000 euros (about $187,000 dollars).
