FROM WORDS TO MAPS – Representing Past and Present in the Digital Age

How can digital tools support historical research and improve access to testimonies of the past? What role can data visualisation play in interpreting complex historical experiences and understanding contemporary societies?

The Fondazione Centro di Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea (CDEC Foundation) presents a public event showcasing the outcomes of two research projects applying Digital Humanities methodologies to the analysis and interpretation of oral testimonies.

TRAME is based on an unpublished corpus of interviews documenting Jewish migration from countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean. The project produced interactive digital maps that reconstruct migration routes, represent community histories, and highlight individual experiences through spatial visualisation tools.

AVALANCHE focuses on the language used by witnesses of the Second World War to describe the Shoah, occupation, and liberation. The research resulted in LEXICON, a structured vocabulary analysing testimonial language across archival collections preserved in five institutions in Greece and Italy, contributing to new approaches to testimony analysis and semantic interpretation.

Speakers

Chiara Renzo – TRAME Project
Giovanni Pietro Vitali – AVALANCHE Project

Introduction by Laura Brazzo, Deputy Director, CDEC Foundation

Special contribution by Davide Lerner, journalist and author

📩 Registration recommended: cdec@cdec.it

Sunday, 19 April 2026 – 11:00
CDEC Foundation Library
Piazza Edmond J. Safra 1, Milan

DALLE PAROLE ALLE MAPPE – Come rappresentare passato e presente nell’età digitale