Limina. Intorno al testo (2025-1)

Limina. Intorno al testo (2025-1)

This volume is devoted to the tension between computational abstraction and the specificity of humanistic data.

I. Saggi.
The issue opens with a broad methodological reflection on the implications of the Digital Humanities. In this vein, Fabio Ciotti examines the epistemological impact of artificial intelligence and immersive technologies, complemented by Cristina Marras’s contribution on the relationship between theoretical frameworks and operational practice. The section continues with analyses focused on the structural and conceptual challenges of encoding textual marginalia in XML/TEI, as highlighted by Roberto Rosselli Del Turco’s incisive observations. These are accompanied by reflections on the effectiveness of digital technologies in supporting research on particularly complex witnesses, exemplified by the case study presented by Ciro Perna and Elisabetta Tonello on the manuscript Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Pal. 313.
From a different yet complementary perspective, Serena Malatesta introduces Divine Reality within the D.A.N.T.E. project, which explores the potential of immersive technologies—particularly virtual reality—for the didactic and critical enhancement of Dante’s cultural heritage.

The concept of liminality is further extended to its more contemporary and popular manifestations, focusing on the “extreme” reception of the Dantean tradition and on possibilities of access, reworking, and reuse within digital archives, as illustrated by the Dante Today project presented by Elisabeth Coggeshall and Arielle Saiber. Emphasizing the importance of integrated approaches—especially in complex contexts requiring dialogue among heterogeneous disciplinary competences—the following two contributions, respectively devoted to past work and future perspectives, offer complementary views on the relationship between digital technologies and cultural heritage. Paola Manoni’s essay focuses on the digitization and preservation activities carried out at the Vatican Apostolic Library, while Arianna Traviglia explores future prospects related to the use of new technologies for the protection and enhancement of cultural heritage. Addressing recent innovations in digitization techniques and analytical methodologies, the contributions by Gianluca Del Mastro, Angelo Mario Del Grosso, and Angela Siciliano present the results of their most recent research, in which the digital emerges as a critical and project-oriented practice capable of shaping new forms of access to and interpretation of cultural heritage.

II. Schede bibliografiche. 
The issue includes two bio-bibliographical notes conceived in dialogue with one another, which approach from different perspectives the ways in which the Digital Humanities today function as an experimental environment for redefining scholarly practices. In particular, they underscore how making - the very act of doing - progressively acquires an autonomous epistemic value, embedded within an increasingly multidisciplinary and collective dimension, in which technical and conceptual infrastructures themselves become objects of critical reflection.