Archivitaly Access Watch #22

Archivitaly Access Watch #22

31 August 2026 Archivitaly Access Watch #22 covers the week from Monday 31 August to Sunday 6 September 2026. The end of the main August closure period restores normal access at many Italian archives, but significant restrictions remain. Building works continue to...
Why One Misread Word Changes Everything in Archives

Why One Misread Word Changes Everything in Archives

Palaeographic transcription is sometimes described, rather reductively, as the decipherment of difficult handwriting; in reality, it is a discipline of controlled interpretation, in which graphic form, linguistic competence, documentary convention and historical...
Archivitaly Access Watch #21

Archivitaly Access Watch #21

24–30 August 2026 Late August continues to affect archival access across Italy, with a combination of summer closures, shortened reading-room schedules, temporary exclusions of holdings, restricted retrieval services and institutional works. This week’s Access Watch...
What Paleography Is: Transcription vs Translation

What Paleography Is: Transcription vs Translation

Paleography is concerned with historical writing: how it was formed, how it changed, how it can be read and, in many cases, how a written witness can be dated or localised through its graphic features. Transcription and translation enter at a different stage. They may...
Archivitaly Access Watch #20

Archivitaly Access Watch #20

17–23 August 2026 The third week of August remains a particularly uneven period for archival access in Italy. Summer opening schedules overlap with longer-term building works, staffing constraints, repository closures and temporary restrictions on the retrieval of...