Achieving the ‘dream reaction’, the long sought-after reaction that makes it possible to convert greenhouse gases into green fuels, is no longer just a dream, but a real scientific perspective encouraged by the results of a study that has brought together the main research bodies and universities in Friuli Venezia Giulia.

The Istituto Officina dei materiali of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR-IOM), the University of Udine, the University of Trieste, Elettra Sincrotrone and Area Science Park have implemented a synergy that has formed a broad and interdisciplinary research group: collaboration on the project has enabled the development of a technology for the preparation of innovative catalysts capable of promoting the transformation of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that negatively affects the energy balance of our planet by favouring global warming. 

The methodology identified concerned, in particular, the possibility of directly converting methane into methanol, a valuable ally in the energy transition process, by means of a new low-cost material based on Cerium and Copper, whose catalytic properties were explored thanks to state-of-the-art techniques available at the region's universities and research centres. 

‘The possibility of synthesising innovative materials at low cost has been investigated, avoiding the use of additional solvents and time-consuming steps in the preparation phase: this technology simply exploits the mechanical force that modifies the structure of the starting material and makes it more efficient in transforming methane into other molecules,’ explain Silvia Mauri, a researcher at CNR-Istituto Officina dei Materiali and Rudy Calligaro, a researcher at the University of Udine, both authors of the work. 

‘The result was twofold: on the one hand having identified a promising material for the catalysis process, and on the other hand having implemented our knowledge of the mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of these materials. This has been possible thanks to the use of advanced techniques using synchrotron light, together with the computing power available today. This will make it easier and faster from now on to further improve the design and use of these catalysts.'

The study therefore has important implications on supporting the process of the energy transition imposed by the consequences of global warming: ‘Methane is a precious resource and its exploitation represents a major challenge in heterogeneous catalysis: this is why the scientific community around the world is concentrating its efforts on the search for new materials that facilitate its transformation processes into products that can be used in a more sustainable way,’ adds Luca Braglia from Area Science Park. 'This fundamental study identifies a new class of catalysts prepared in an economically and environmentally more sustainable way. It also confirms how the simultaneous use of several advanced techniques and interdisciplinary skills is necessary to identify and develop new materials and technologies to support the ecological transition.’ 

Carlo Federico Pauletti, PhD student in Physics at the University of Trieste, was also part of the working group: ‘I contributed to the project by creating a computer model representing the catalyst synthesised by Piero Torelli's group (CNR-IOM), and then studying its behaviour through numerical simulations. What emerged from our study is, in agreement with the experimental results, a promising activity with regard to the direct conversion of methane into methanol, due to the particular nano-structural characteristics of the material, also observed in the experiments. 

The wide variety of techniques, both experimental and theoretical, used in the study of this system constitutes a considerable added value according to the UniTS doctoral student: ‘It has greatly improved our understanding of this reaction and the material used, and the great variety of approaches has made the work very stimulating, thanks to the continuous comparison with researchers from all the institutions involved,’ comments Pauletti.

The research, which demonstrates Italy's leading role in tackling the crucial challenge of the green transition and new materials, shows how cooperation between regional top scientific institutions brings results of great impact. The results of this collaboration have been described in the US scientific journal ‘Small’, published by Wiley, which also dedicated a cover page to the study.

An international team of researchers coordinated by the University of Trieste has discovered a new species of Antarctic shrimp – the Orchomenella rinamontiae – a crustacean belonging to the order of amphipods, identified in the vicinity of the Mario Zucchelli Italian Antarctic Station by Piero Giulianini, zoologist and professor at the University of Trieste’s Department of Life Sciences, during the 33rd Italian Antarctic Expedition in Terra Nova Bay.

The event opens up new avenues for research and represents a significant step forward for a deeper understanding of marine life and biodiversity in the most remote and inhospitable regions of the planet: knowledge of Antarctic marine communities and the species that make them up is, in fact, of fundamental importance for monitoring global changes due to human activities.

‘The initial aim of the research was to verify the responses of an Antarctic shrimp species to warming seas. However, morphological and genetic analyses revealed that some of the samples belonged to a previously undescribed species,’ explains Piero Giulianini, zoologist and professor of the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Trieste. ‘The new species belongs to a dominant and endemic group in Antarctic waters, scavenger shrimps that play a key role in marine communities, consuming and dispersing food of all sizes. Like a litmus test, monitoring the abundance and diversity of these shrimps will allow us to understand the ongoing anthropogenic impacts on these delicate ecosystems: human impact on the environment, in fact, negatively affects marine communities, hampering their diversity and complexity. But not only that, in our laboratories we will also conduct analyses to study how the newly identified species responds to ocean warming,’ the professor concludes.

For the morphological analysis, the researchers used an innovative and advanced imaging technique, X-ray microtomography, which allowed them to obtain high-resolution three-dimensional images of the new species, offering the advantage of digitally examining the sample without introducing artefacts and distortions due to manipulation.

The discovery not only enriches the catalogue of Antarctic marine species, but also underlines the importance of combining physical and genetic analyses for species classification, through technologically advanced tools such as microtomography, which could revolutionise the way biological samples are studied and classified. As image resolution continues to improve and equipment costs decrease, microtomography could soon become a standard technique in biodiversity research, greatly accelerating the process of species discovery, description and classification.

The name chosen to describe the new shrimp, Orchomenella rinamontiae, is a tribute by the research group to the zoologist Rina Monti, who in 1907 became the first Italian woman to hold a professorship at the University of Sassari, and celebrates her pioneering contribution to zoology in academia.

The study involved the Applied Zoology and Applied Genomics research groups of the University of Trieste (Piero Giulianini, Samuele Greco, Elisa D’Agostino, Marco Gerdol, Alberto Pallavicini, Chiara Manfrin) with the contribution of two experts in the field of Antarctic shrimp classification: Claude de Broyer of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and Ed Hendrycks of the Canadian Museum of Nature. A physicist and a zoologist from the University of Calabria (Sandro Donato and Anita Giglio) participated in the analysis of X-ray microtomography data performed at Sincrotrone Elettra in Trieste.

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Full study published in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society   
‘A new Antarctic species of Orchomenella G.O. Sars, 1890 (Amphipoda: Lysianassoidea: Tryphosidae): is phase-contrast micro-tomography a mature technique for digital holotypes?’

Piero G. Giulianini1, Claude De Broyer2, Ed A. Hendrycks3, Samuele Greco1, Elisa D’Agostino1, Sandro Donato4,5,6, Anita Giglio7, Marco Gerdol1, Alberto Pallavicini1, Chiara Manfrin1

1Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
2Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Bruxelles, Belgium
3Canadian Museum of Nature, Research and Collections, Ottawa, Canada
4Department of Physics, University of Calabria, Cosenza, Italy
5Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Division of Frascati, Frascati, Rome, Italy
6Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste SCpA, in AREA Science Park, Basovizza, Trieste, Italy
7Department of Biology, Ecology and Earth Science, University of Calabria, Cosenza, Italy

The celebrations of the Centenary of the University of Trieste – which will turn one hundred years old this 8th August – will be enriched by an extraordinary cultural event: a classical music concert organised by the University of Trieste in collaboration with the Giuseppe Verdi Opera Theatre Foundation.

The event will take place on Tuesday, 23rd July 2024, at 21:00, in Piazza Verdi, as part of the Trieste Estate 2024 festival.

The concert will be a musical journey through some of the most significant stages of the Italian 20th century, with pieces that reflect crucial moments in the history of the University and the city of Trieste.

The musical programme will begin with “Tramonto” for mezzo-soprano, soloist and strings by Ottorino Respighi, a youthful composition that transports the audience to the melancholic and poetically evocative atmosphere inspired by a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The piece, which dates back to the period before the First World War, outlines the decline of an era of prosperity and cultural vibrancy favourable to the establishment of a university institution.

It will continue with Alfredo Casella’s ‘Concerto per archi op. 40b’, a work coeval with the founding of the University in 1924, which reproposes the national theme in the contextually problematic form of instrumental music.

The evening will continue with ‘Festlicher Morgen’ from Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari’s Venetian Suite, a piece from 1936 that takes us back to the time, troubled by dense shadows, when the foundation stone of what is now the central building of the University of Trieste was laid.

Luciano Berio, with his “Folk Songs”, will then take us into the 1960s through a cultured and innovative reinterpretation of popular songs with the intention of recounting the period of expansion of the University, which was no longer only accessed by the children of the elite, but which became a place where the conditions were created for the social mobility of young people from the middle class and also of those with more humble origins.

Closing the programme will be the “3 unvollendete Portraits” by Fabio Nieder, an internationally renowned composer from Trieste, who with this 2014 work reflects on incompleteness as a characteristic feature of culture and science open to innovation. A reflection that is intended to be the legacy of the Centenary for the future of the University of Trieste, which aims to continue “building the future of knowledge”.

The presentation of the pieces will be given by Riccardo Martinelli, lecturer in Philosophy of Music at UniTS, who will offer the audience a key to better understand the works performed. The orchestra of the Giuseppe Verdi Opera House Foundation will be conducted by Maestro Giulio Prandi. The evening will also feature the special participation of mezzo-soprano Manuela Custer.

“This event,” explains Rector Roberto Di Lenarda, “is part of the numerous initiatives that we have organised to celebrate the Centenary of the University of Trieste, with the aim of creating new opportunities for the University of Trieste to meet the city, also through a greater involvement of cultural institutions. Art, music and culture in general allow us to tell a wider audience about our history and our mission in an original and creative way, enabling us to connect the past with future prospects. The concert also projects us towards the date of 8th August 2024 when we will symbolically celebrate the founding date of UniTS on the campus in Piazzale Europa’.

“We are very happy,” says Giuliano Polo, Superintendent of the Verdi Theatre, “to continue and intensify our relationship at several levels with the University of Trieste and we are honoured to contribute in a significant way to celebrating the Centenary of the University of Trieste with a concert performed by our Orchestra and a musical programme specifically designed to excite with history and culture”.

The Centenary concert is realised thanks to the contribution of the Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia and Promoturismo Io Sono FVG, with the support, in the broader context of the event “Trieste Estate 2024”, of the Municipality of Trieste and Discover Trieste Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Developing a new therapy capable of completely regenerating the heart after a myocardial infarction, forming new tissue and new blood vessels to restore the heart muscle to full function: this is the goal of the RESCUE international research project - Bridging the gap between cardiac regeneration and revascularization coordinated by the University of Trieste, which involves experts in cardiac regeneration and angiogenesis from Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Turkey.

‘For many years, progress in the fields of cardiac regeneration and angiogenesis have proceeded in the same direction, without talking to each other. However, repairing a heart damaged by an infarction requires the formation of both new heart muscle and new blood vessels. With the RESCUE project, we aim to bridge this gap between cardiac regeneration and revascularisation: we want, in fact, to develop a new biological drug containing two active ingredients - and in particular two RNA molecules - that can regenerate the heart and simultaneously promote the vascularisation of the regenerated tissue,' explains project coordinator Serena Zacchigna, professor of molecular biology at the department of medical, surgical and health sciences at the University of Trieste and head of the cardiovascular biology laboratory at ICGEB (International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology).

The researchers have already identified a number of candidate molecules, which have been shown to promote the proliferation of heart muscle cells on the one hand and the formation of new blood vessels, both small capillaries and larger arteries, on the other. Over the next three years, researchers will experiment with different combinations until they identify the most effective one. This will be the first time that two biological molecules, capable of stimulating these two fundamental processes for the repair of an infarcted heart, are combined in a single drug, to demonstrate synergy of action. 

The University of Trieste – the only Italian university leading one of the seventeen projects selected by the CARDINNOV call for proposals – will coordinate the study in collaboration with the Monzino Cardiological Centre Research Hospital, in particular with the research group of Prof. Giulio Pompilio, scientific director and alternate Italian delegate to the Committee for Advanced Therapies (CAT) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA). 

'Myocardial infarction continues to be a major cause of death,' explains Prof. Giulio Pompilio, scientific director of the Monzino Cardiological Centre Research Hospital. 'Research has recently produced new RNA drugs that act on the risk factors of infarction, but there are still no therapies that stimulate heart repair. In the coming years, we expect more and more RNA drugs to be introduced into the clinic for the treatment of heart disease,' the professor concludes.

The National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) in Madrid, the University of Utrecht, the Lokman Hekim University in Ankara, the Slovak Academy of Sciences, and the PLN Foundation patient association, the latter of which is responsible for educating and raising awareness among patients and caregivers about the new RNA therapies, are collaborating on the project. 

With funding of EUR 1.5 million - of which more than 600,000 are earmarked for Italy, through the Ministry of University and Research and the Ministry of Health - the project is promoted by the EU ERA4Health partnership, which supports collaboration between various European and international research bodies in priority areas in the health sector, fostering the development of therapeutic innovations..

UniTS TREELAB has been enhanced with a laser ablation (€ 366,000) and a methylmercury analyser (€ 72,000), thanks to a partnership with ASUGI and PNRR-PNC funding for the analysis of environmental and occupational trace pollutants. 

The laser ablation enables the analysis of metals on surfaces and other substrates, while the methylmercury analyser checks the presence of mercury in water, air and hair.       

The new instruments add to the laboratory's equipment, enabling in-depth investigations into heavy metals in the region. By collaborating between doctors, chemists and geologists different skills have been combined to strengthen and deepen environmental and workplace investigations.

Also thanks to PNC-PRR funding, a further piece of equipment is being acquired that will enable the identification of trace organic molecules and make the ASUGI-UniTS laboratories complete.

TREELAB is a collaboration between the Clinical Department of Medical, Surgical and Health Sciences, the Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Department of Mathematics, Computer Science and Geosciences. The activities within the laboratories are carried out and coordinated by Professors Francesca Larese Filon, former Director of the Department of Integrated Activities for Health and Safety, Gianpiero Adami, Matteo Crosera and Stefano Covelli, together with their collaborators and technicians.
 

On 7th July, Pope Francis will visit Trieste, at the conclusion of the 50th Social Week of Catholics in Italy, which the city has been hosting since 3rd July. After meeting the Delegates, and before reaching Piazza Unità for the celebration of the Holy Mass, the Pope will also receive some students and young researchers from the ten Departments of the University of Trieste, accompanied by the Directors, the Rector, the Director General and a governance delegation. In the spirit of the theme of the Social Week, ‘At the heart of Democracy’, the meeting aims to underline everyone's confidence in the ability of young people - engaged in training in the various disciplines that create universitas - to build a fairer and more united society also through the development of knowledge. The University will experience this meeting in the centenary year of its foundation, which will also be commemorated by the Pope's signing of the University's Book of Honour. 

UniTS is also present in the rich programme of the Social Week:

5th July, 17:30 - SQUARES OF DEMOCRACY 

OUTSKIRTS: cities seen from the margins (in Piazza Ponterosso) 

Speakers: Eugenia Carfora, Giovanni Carrosio (UniTS), Mario Vatta 

LOCAL INSTITUTIONS: democracy on trial for communities (in Piazza Hortis) 

Speakers: Gregorio Arena, Federica Fanesi, Roberto Louvin (UniTS) 

FAMILIES: ties, relationships and community (in Piazza della Borsa) 

Speakers: Mariolina Ceriotti Migliarese, Adriano Bordignon, Renata Longo (UniTS) and Francesco Pavanello 

5th July, 15:00 – 17:00 DIALOGUES ON GOOD PRACTICES

Thinking well to act better: university, research and the third mission (Chamber of Commerce, Piazza della Borsa 14) 

Speakers: Caterina Falbo (UniTS), representatives from Università Cattolica Milan, LUMSA Rome and Università Europea Rome)

6th July, 17:30 - 5th July, 17:30 – SQUARES OF DEMOCRACY 

CITIZENSHIP: migration and rights in today's Italy (in Piazza Ponterosso) 

Speakers: Giovanni La Manna, Abdoulaye Mbodj, Roberta Altin (UniTS) 

PREPARING FOR POLITICS: participating, debating, deciding (in Piazza della Borsa) 

Speakers: Giovanni Diamanti, Rosangela Maino, Mattia Zulianello (UniTS)

The offer of degree programmes at the University of Trieste is about to be enriched. Starting from the 2024-2025 academic year, two new master's degrees will be opened, characterised by a markedly international and professionalising perspective, entirely in English: Engineering for the energy transition and European Policies for digital, ecological and social transitions, both aimed at training tomorrow's professionals in the field of digital, ecological, social and energy transition.

‘Both master's degrees deal with transition processes for which new models and professions need to be developed,’ explains Rector Roberto Di Lenarda. ‘They are also multidisciplinary, because the ecological, energy and digital transition also requires legal and political preparation. They train professional figures with innovative specialisations in demand in the world of work and are complementary, focusing respectively on the energy transition and its integrated governance at EU level.’

Engineering for energy

An international novelty in the form of an interclass course with two curriculums: Sustainable: building design and technology and Sustainable industrial systems, it intends to offer advanced preparation in the field of energy transition in both the building and industrial fields.

Students will acquire design skills that are economically, environmentally and socially sustainable and will know how to choose the most suitable technologies, materials, sources and energy vectors. They will be able to integrate building and energy systems with electricity grids, storage systems and sustainable mobility.

The fields in which the new figure will be able to move are diverse: freelance professionals and design offices operating in the fields of construction, thermal engineering, energy efficiency, production systems and use of energy carriers and renewable energy sources, companies and private public bodies in the process of adapting building systems and plants, industries for the production and management of energy components, plants and systems, industries operating in the production of building envelopes, companies that design, install and manage systems using energy carriers in the industrial, commercial and residential sectors, companies that provide services in the energy field, companies and public or private bodies that are obliged to appoint an energy manager and research bodies that develop projects related to energy transition.

Energy storage devices represent one of the enabling technologies for the transition to renewable energy sources. ELISA, an ad-hoc laboratory serving a multidisciplinary group of engineers, chemists, computer scientists, economists and social scientists, also enriches the Engineering for the energy transition degree course. ELISA complements two existing laboratories at the University of Trieste, dedicated to ‘Photovoltaics’ and ‘Smart Grid and Electric Mobility’, strategically increasing the university's ability to position itself among the most active research institutions in the field of renewable energy sources and sustainable mobility. ELISA has innovative instrumentation and offers platforms for rapid prototyping and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulations. 

To access the Engineering for the energy transition course at the Department of Engineering and Architecture, students must hold one of the following qualifications: a three-year degree in the industrial or civil and environmental engineering classes; alternatively, they must have gained at least 18 credits (CFU) in the mathematics area, 9 credits in the physics area, 6 credits in the chemistry area, 6 credits in the electrical area, 6 credits in the energy area, 6 credits in the civil area or in architecture - 15 if the student intends to enrol in the Sustainable building design and technology curriculum. The student must also show a graduation mark of 95/110 or higher, otherwise they will have to undergo a cognitive interview. The course also requires knowledge of the English language at a level of at least B2 in the Common European Framework of Reference.

European Policies for digital, ecological and social transitions

Running from next September, the course aims to provide future generations with a multidisciplinary background in the governance of digital, ecological and social transitions.

Students, future civil servants in public administrations, project managers and consultants, will acquire advanced knowledge and skills in analysis, management and evaluation of European policies, programmes and projects, together with in-depth thematic knowledge on political, social and legal tools and mechanisms to govern, in an integrated way, aspects related to environmental sustainability, digital impacts, social cohesion (e.g. comparative law of the environment and digital technologies, analysis of open data and big data, participatory design techniques for sustainable and inclusive innovation). This combination of skills will make graduates of the course capable of using the tools and resources of the European Union in the most effective way to govern digital, ecological and social transitions.

There are also specific entry requirements for the course in European Policies for digital, ecological and social transitions at the Department of Political and Social Sciences. Students must hold one of the following degrees: a bachelor's degree in the classes of Political Science and International Relations, Administrative and Organisational Sciences, Economics, Social Sciences for Cooperation, Development and Peace; alternatively, they must have completed a total of 24 credits in Law, Economics and Statistics (at least 6 credits of the total 24), Political Science and Sociology. The course also requires knowledge of the English language at a level of at least B2 in the Common European Framework of Reference.

This morning saw the start of the first session of the 2024 Summer Training Modules, the orientation initiative aimed at students who have completed their third and fourth year of 'high school'.

This year's edition opens with record numbers, starting with an even broader (18 modules compared to last July's 12) and more multidisciplinary training offer, but above all for the number of school students involved: 702 enrolled, almost 200 more than the first 2023 session, with a 40% increase.

The initiative confirms its attractiveness for high school students not only from our area: almost 40% of those enrolled come from outside Trieste and 10% from outside the region. Boys and girls from Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Lombardy, Apulia, Sardinia, Sicily, Tuscany, Umbria and Veneto, as well as from abroad (Argentina, Ethiopia, India and Venezuela) will also be getting to know UniTS.

The opening ceremony took place in the Aula Magna of the H3 building with the participation of Giulio Xhaet, partner and digital strategist at Newton S.p.A, with an interactive speech entitled 'Da grande' (When I grow up).

During his speech, Xhaet touched on several topics, including what questions to ask yourself to find your career path and how to increase your skills through personal passions.

The study Self-assembling dendrimer nanosystems for specific fluorine MRI and effective theranostic treatment of tumours has been published in the scientific journal PNAS. Among the researchers is Sabrina Pricl, associate professor of Chemical Engineering, scientific director of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Nanotechnology at the University of Trieste and head of the international collaboration COST Cancer Nanomedicine - from the bench to the bedside. Erik Laurini, associate professor at UniTS, co-authored the study. 

In a world first, the research group have analysed and developed a new imaging system based on the use of fluorinated contrast agents. The system, aimed at early diagnosis and treatment of oncological diseases (even in their most invasive and aggressive forms), outperforms traditional hydrogen-based nuclear magnetic resonance imaging. Since water, and therefore hydrogen, constitute more than 70 per cent our body weight, classic MRI often has limitations in identifying differences between diseased tissue and surrounding tissue, especially for very small tumours. On the other hand, the use of fluorine-based contrast agents, which are not naturally present in human tissue, appears very promising. Precisely because of the absence of fluorine in most biological systems, it has the potential to provide clearer, more specific and resolute images compared to traditional techniques.

The use of fluorine MRI has so far been limited due to the lack of safe imaging agents, which are often characterised by limitations such as low signal-to-noise ratio, low fluorine content or instability or insolubility in water. Researchers, for the first time, have been able to create effective, efficient and non-toxic fluorine-based contrast agents.

Among the distinguishing features of the molecules designed by the researchers (nanosystems of self-assembled dendrimers) is their ability to perform multiple functions. More specifically, they belong to the category of teragnostics, since they are able to perform the function of diagnosis and therapy at the same time. Once the tumour has been detected, the molecules can be used to monitor its progress and release the appropriate therapy drug on site.

‘Interest in the use of fluorine MRI with fluorinated imaging agents is growing. Such nanosystems of teragnostic dendrimers represent the future in the field of personalised medicine. Being able to record and monitor the progress or regression of a tumour and at the same time continue to treat the disease is a real accomplishment in terms of therapeutic outcome and treatment endurance, which as a consequence are less invasive, toxic or harmful, while fully respecting patients,' explains Prof. Pricl.

The University of Trieste took part in the following phases: molecular design and engineering, performance computing, analysis and experimentation.

Among the funders were also AIRC, Cinema and ICSC, National Research Centre in HPC, Big Data and Quantum Computing.

In the year of UniTS Centenary, the Art relationship project continues the university’s commitment to enhancing its artistic heritage and creating a closer bond with the Friuli Venezia Giulia territory. The project is organised by the University of Trieste in collaboration with the University Museum Services (SmaTS) and the Cultural Heritage of Friuli Venezia Giulia (ERPAC).

Following the success of the artist in residency programme Shine Bright Like a Diamond in 2023, which involved the Departments of the University of Trieste in an unprecedented collaboration between lecturers, artists and students, Art Relations focuses on the relationship between important artists and the University and the city of Trieste.

The project kicks off on 18th June with exhibitions of internationally renowned artists Serse Roma and Manuela Sedmach and will continue in the coming months with Antonio Sofianopulo and Elisa Vladilo.

The six graphite drawings that make up ‘Serse. The ambiguities of representation’ will be exhibited in the right and left wings of the central building of the University of Trieste, Piazzale Europa 1.

“The form is that of still life, of the object arrested in its natural process. The figure, on the other hand, is linked to the dynamic continuity of the living being. In Serses' work, all things, even an isolated object in the most stable of configurations, are brought to life by this dynamic continuity. And it is thanks to the technique he has adopted and defended over all these years; drawing,” said art critic Alessandro Del Puppo.

The exhibition ‘Manuela Sedmach. Al di sotto della sostanza cromatica, nell'intercapedine della pittura' (Underneath the substance of colour, inside painting’s cavity wall) will instead be on display at the UniTS Department of Humanities in Via del Lazzaretto Vecchio where some twenty of the painter's works will be on display.

“It was no accident, but rather a purposeful choice by Sedmach to distribute her works in the Library of the Archive of Writers and Regional Culture of the University of Trieste in order to relate them to a cultural heritage intimately perceived and experienced over the years. Alongside the development of shelves that preserve and protect the ‘written memories’, making them available to the 'gesture' of consultation, the 'pictorial-narration' offers itself to a visual reading characterised by development within the same space, sustained by a 'stabilised wind' that intersects the top and the bottom, from the centre to the borders of the canvas, now reinforcing itself on the left with a mass moving to the right, now stabilising in a depression, and then extending horizontally, revealing itself only to a careful gaze,' stresses art critic Andrea Del Guercio.

Serse Roma

Born in San Polo di Piave on 14 November 1952, Serse has lived and worked in Trieste since 1980.

Serse Roma focuses exclusively on graphite drawing on paper. Over the years, the artist, an adopted Triestine, has produced a considerable series of images that have earned him inclusion in the volume Vitamin D, New Perspectives in Drawing, published by Phaidon Press, London (2006), and a chapter in Lorand Hegyi's new essay ‘Drawing in the Age of Uncertainty’, Silvana editions (2021), as well as participation in major international exhibitions like Pastels du 16°au 21°siecle at the Fondation de L'Hermitage in Lausanne.  His work is characterised by a consistency and recognisability that make it unique in today's national panorama. In Serse’s case, drawing is not a merely a classical tool for sketching out the invisible scaffolding of a painting, nor does he use it, like many contemporary artists, as a precarious and fragile visual note. In Serses Rome, the work in its absolute completeness is due to drawing alone. Drawing represents 'no more than this'. It is an instrument subjected to a vertiginous analysis that probes its full potential. From Serse Roma's graphite has sprung one of the most intense re-readings of landscape in contemporary art: Seas, Cloud Skies, High Mountains, Snowy Woods, Reeds, Reflections of Water. In other words, the non-human, sublime dimension of Earth in its elementary condition of first and ultimate things. Almost as if it were possible to probe, through the concrete materiality of graphite, the mineral soul of the earth, whose transformations occur on a time scale other to our anthropological one. In recent years, Serse Roma has delved even deeper into what could be included, or at least brought back, to the graphite that has marked his career. The reference to the minerality of graphite is captured in his astonishing series Diamonds, whose perfect and unalterable form recalls the crystallographic origins of the primary forms of geometry and building. We thus return to Serses' reflection on his instrument, graphite, a material that by its very nature recalls the minerality (graphite and diamond are allotropic forms of carbon) behind a not-only-human geometry of the constructed.

Manuela Sedmach

Born in Trieste in 1953, she began exhibiting in the 1970s after attending the "E. Nordio" State Institute of Art in Trieste with teachers such as Ladislao de Gauss, Maria Campitelli, and Enzo Cogno. But her most heartfelt activity began in the 1980s with Officina in Trieste, Avida Dollars in Milan, Rasponi in Ravenna, Fuxia Art in Verona, Emporium in Ivrea and Arte3 in Trieste. In 1991, she was part of the Art exposition in Chicago where she featured in an exhibition of 5 Italian artists at Navy Pier. She also received the important Pollok - Krasner Foundation Grant, New York. In the 1990s, more precisely in 1992, she began her relationship with Galleria Continua, which was at that time based in a small but precious space near the Cathedral of San Gimignano.

Manuela’s relationship with Galleria Continua continues to this day with exhibitions, international fairs and exhibition relationships with other galleries such as Van Laere in Antwerp, Schroeder in Cologne, Dina Carola in Naples, G7 in Bologna, Jaqueline Arets in Knokke in Belgium. In 2003, a beautiful underwater installation 'Occhi bianchi' (White eyes) in the Ponterosso canal followed a personal exhibition at the Revoltella Museum in Trieste in Palazzo Gopcevich, kindling an important relationship with Galleria Torbandena in Trieste.

In 2009, she exhibited at Le Moulin-Boissy le Chatel (Paris) and 2005/2010 Beijing 798 Art Zone (both extensions of the Continua gallery), studio G7 in Bologna, 3G Artecontemporanea in Udine, Plurima and GAMUD – also in Udine. Her series ‘Passare al Bosco’ (A Walk in the Woods)  inspired by ‘The Rebel's Treaty’ by Ernst Junger, was developed from 2015-2017 in Tellaro (SP), in the oratory Santa Maria Telaà, in Galleria Continua, in ARCA-ITIS in Trieste, and Colonos in Villacaccia di Lestizza, before it arrived at its current title ‘Dubito ergo Cogito’,(I doubt therefore I think)  inspired by a docufilm by Werner Herzog in which he finds the characters that accompany him in his work: slowness, fatigue, doubt and many more. In 2020, she moved to Portugal in Braga where she continued her activity with an important collaboration with the Nuno Centeno gallery in Porto. The meeting with two particular artists Pedro Vaz and Filipe Cortez was especially important. In 2023 she put on the exhibition ‘Nunca pare de ver – N'arrête jamais de voir’ (Never stop seeing) with Galleria Continua. In recent years, Manuela Sedmach has brought the Portuguese atmosphere into her work.