Across the Mediterranean, there exists a series of fortified places of worship including churches, monasteries and mosques that have been preserved from the Late Middle Ages.

This was the theme around which approximately 30 scholars of medieval architecture, art historians and archaeologists, from prestigious Italian and international universities, gathered at the Archaeological Park of the Aeolian Islands Bernabò Brea Archaeological Museum, Lipari (Aeolian Islands) from 3 to 5 October. Prof. Charlene Vella from the Department of Art and Art History participated in this conference presenting a paper on the older, Late Medieval sections that survive in the architecture of the church now dedicated to St Anne at Fort St Angelo.

Titled Defending sacred spaces: Fortified churches and monasteries in the Medieval Mediterranean (9th to 14th century), this conference marks the second international gathering on medieval Mediterranean architecture, following an earlier event in 2022, also held in Lipari, of the series Mediterraneo Medievale. Architettura, archeologia, arte.

The focus at this second conference was on fortified religious architecture in Mediterranean countries, spanning from Greece to Morocco, Croatia to Tunisia, and including Spain, France, Malta and Italy. The conference was organised by the Archaeological Park of the Aeolian Islands and the Laboratoire d'archéologie médiévale et moderne en Méditerranée (LA3M) at Aix-Marseille University. Supported by the Assessorato dei Beni Culturali e dell'Identità Siciliana and the Dipartimento BBCC, the conference is the brainchild of Rosario Vilardo, director of the Archaeological Museum, and Fabio Linguanti, an architect and architectural historian (Politecnico di Torino / LA3M - Aix Marseille Université), who also served as the convener. The event was endorsed by the University of Catania, the Archdiocese of Messina, Lipari and Santa Lucia del Mela and the Municipality of Lipari.

The conference featured presentations from scholars from various countries. Among these were Raoul Romero Medina (Complutense University of Madrid, Spain) who examined fortified religious architecture in Andalusia as an expression of power rather than military spaces; Lamia Hadda (University of Florence, Italy) presented on the Great Mosque of Susse in Tunisia, highlighting its dual nature as a sacred space and fortress; Marie Ange Causarano (University of Messina, Italy) discussed the Abbey of Casalvecchio Siculo, part of a network of Italo-Greek monasteries across the Strait; Adriano Napoli (University of Catania, Italy) presented research on the medieval towers of Greek-rite monasteries and Valeria Carta (University of Cagliari) who discussed the Santuario di Nostra Signora di Bonaria in Cagliari.

The proceedings of this conference will be published in the coming weeks.