The Cultural crossroads of Aquileia
1 day | £99 per person | 20 November 2026
The Cultural crossroads of Aquileia
After more than six hundred years of protecting Rome’s northern frontier against barbarian incursions, the city of Aquileia was besieged, conquered and razed to the ground by Attila the Hun in 452. At the time of its destruction, Aquileia was one of the largest and most important cities in the Roman world, and its imperial splendour reveals itself in the exquisite fourth-century mosaic floor that survives under its eleventh-century basilica. The ruins of its once thriving harbour and the fragmentary treasures in its archaeological museum, one of Italy’s largest, also bear witness to the city’s size and significance. During what used to be called the Dark Ages, a rebuilt Aquileia fell under the artistic and political influence of the Lombards, whose first Italian capital was at nearby Cividale. A protracted religious rivalry ensued between Lombard Aquileia and its former port of Grado, now dominated by Byzantium, which saw both towns construct some of the finest early medieval buildings in northern Italy. These local conflicts were settled definitively however by the hegemonic rise of Venice, and the footprint of the Most Serene Republic is clearly visible in the later architecture of the region.
Dr Steve Kershaw will be leading a tour of Aquileia in 2027. More details will be available soon.
This Lecture is held at the Art Workers' Guild in Queen Square London.
TIMETABLE FOR THE DAY
10.30-11.00 Welcome refreshments
11:00-12:00 – Lecture 1
12:00- 12.30 Refreshments
12:30-13:30 – Lecture 2
13:30-14:30 – Lunch
14:30-15:30 Lecture 3
Price: £99
Date:
20 November 2026
Your day includes:
- Three lectures
- Refreshments
- Light lunch
Expert Lecturer
Dr Claudia Daniotti
Claudia Daniotti is an art historian specialising in Italian Renaissance art, with an emphasis on the reception of antiquity and the transmission of visual motifs from ancient times to the present day. A Research Associate at Keble College, Oxford, and a Honorary Research Fellow of the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance at the University of Warwick, Claudia earned her BA (Hons) and MA from the Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, and her PhD from the Warburg Institute, London. She taught and lectured for years both in academia and museums, including Warwick, Buckingham and Bath Spa universities, the Courtauld Institute of Art, the V&A Academy, and the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art in London. Among her publications, is the monograph Reinventing Alexander: Myth, Legend, History in Renaissance Italian Art (Brepols, 2022).
