The digital platform serves as the central infrastructure for all research activities of the SFB. Aligned with the SFB’s two main objectives – the elucidation of Neo-Latin’s role in the early modern world and the integration of Neo-Latin Studies into early modern research as a whole – it fulfills two distinct functions.
Internally, it manages the data foundation for all eight sub-projects, integrating their texts and data while providing tools for analysis; this guarantees the coherence of the SFB’s research program. Externally, it serves as an interface with the wider academic community. By expanding its contents systematically for maximal usefulness, it positions itself as the go-to reference for all scholars interested in the early modern world, regardless of their proficiency in Latin. These goals are achieved through four core elements:
1. Text Corpus
At the core of the platform is the construction of the largest corpus of digitized and machine-readable Neo-Latin texts. Utilizing the AI-powered platform Transkribus, the project assembles a machine-readable document collection selected according to pragmatic criteria of scholarly relevance. Once fully implemented, the corpus will support advanced full-text searches, proximity queries, and automated named-entity recognition, enabling the exploration of themes, concepts, persons, and places across a wide range of contexts.
2. Structured Database
The corpus is complemented by a structured database of persons, works, translations, manuscripts, and printed editions, as well as relevant secondary literature. Implemented using Wikimedia technologies, it links to external resources such as Wikidata, Wikipedia, and other Neo-Latin digital projects. This component facilitates the analysis of textual production networks and the study of cultural and linguistic mediation across regions and periods.
3. AI Chatbot
The platform integrates an AI-powered chatbot based on Large Language Models (LLMs). Grounded in the curated data of the project’s database and text corpus, the chatbot provides translations from Latin and offers contextual information on texts, authors, and concepts. By lowering the barrier for engaging with Neo-Latin sources, this tool supports exploratory research and pedagogical applications while remaining transparent about the limitations of machine-generated output.
4. Curated Resources
Finally, a selected collection of digital tools and resources serves the broader research field. Unlike static lists, this collection is strictly curated and continuously updated to ensure long-term reliability. It includes the rectification of addresses and the removal of obsolete data. The collection includes, but is not limited to:
- Machine-readable Latin text corpora, such as the Corpus Corporum, CAMENA, Poeti d’Italia in lingua latina, CroALa, The Library of Humanistic Texts.
- Modern tools, such as dictionaries (e.g., Ramminger’s Neulateinische Wortliste), encyclopaedias (e.g., Brill’s English online version of Jäger et al. 2005–12), national biographies (Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Deutsche Biographie), bibliographic catalogues (e.g., USTC; VD16, 17, 18), indexes of names (e.g., Gemeinsame Normdatei) and abbreviations (Winiarczyk 1995), and image sources (Warburg Institute Iconographic Database).
- Early modern resources (as scans or, when available, machine-readable transcripts), which often reflect the state of knowledge and the mindset of their own time more precisely and in greater detail than modern ones, e.g., dictionaries, encyclopaedias, bibliographies, and historiae litterariae (cf. the thesaurus section of CAMENA).
Sub-Project 1’s Contributions and Activities
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From 29 June to 3 July, Domenico Graziano participated in the summer school “1966-2026. Frammenti dall’alluvione di Firenze”, organized by the Florence National Central Library, with the partnership of the Associazione Italiana Manoscritti Datati, the Ente Nazionale Giovanni Boccaccio, and the Istituto Nazionale di Studi sul Rinascimento. Together with the other participants, our researcher trained in state-of-the-art tools…
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On 25 June, ancient historian and papyrologist Anna Dolganov from the Austrian Archeological Institute and computational linguist David Smith from the Northeastern University in Boston visited the SRA and presented APOLLO, their brand-new LLM for Greek, in a guest lecture. Plans are underway to extend this model to Latin. During a discussion between the guests…
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Antonia Foggia and Ada Migliazza, predoc researchers in SP 1 (Coordination Project), took part in the Summer School INtegrating TRAditional and Digital Approaches in Manuscript Studies (INTRADAMS), held at the University of Milan from 8th to 19th June 2026, in collaboration with the Department of History and Cultures of the University of Bologna and the University…
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Domenico Graziano (SP1 – Coordination Project) recently completed a period of training and scientific collaboration in Florence at SISMEL (International Society for the Study of Medieval Latin) and the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana (8–11 June), as part of the 11th International Training Course on Manuscript Studies. During his stay, under the supervision of Prof. Gabriella Pomaro (SISMEL),…
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Domenico Graziano (SP1 – Coordination Project) and Orsola Lorena Purcaro (SP5 – Neo-Latin Translations – Bilingual Books for Early Modern Readers) participated in the international conference Transfer of Knowledge in Auxiliary Texts to Greek and Latin Literature (14th–16th c.): The Making of the Late Medieval and Renaissance Canon, organized by Giandamiano Bovi and Vincenzo Damiani (Catania, 4–5 June…