Staff Profiles

I have received a bachelor’s degree in Archaeology (European Protohistory) from “La Sapienza”, University of Rome in 2001, with a thesis on La Téne C1 funerary areas in Canton Ticino (Switzerland) and Lomellina (the Province of Pavia, Italy). In 2002 I applied successfully for the School of Specialization in Prehistory at the same University. I then moved to the University of Pisa in 2003 for my PhD focused on the chrono-typological analysis of ceramic materials from Southern Etruria, between the Late Eneolithic and the Early Bronze Age (2007). In 2008 I moved back to “La Sapienza” to complete my specialization, with a thesis on the chrono-typological analysis of ceramic materials from “Grotta San Biagio (Ostuni, the Province of Brindisi, Puglia, Italy), dating to the Early and Middle Eneolithic (2010). Between 2005 and 2009 I attended the School of Science and Technology of the Municipality of Rome for a four-year diploma in analogic & digital photography (research area: Landscape Photography - Archaeological Photography – Reportage).

I am a member of the Italian Institute of Prehistory and Protohistory and I have participated in several research missions in Italy and abroad (Calabria, Lazio, Puglia, Abruzzo, Switzerland, Greece, Crete, Egypt, Libya). Between 2010 and 2016 I was also responsible for the “Fluturnum Archaeological Project” and I have directed four archaeological excavation and surveys campaigns at the site of “I Giardini-Palazzo della Regina” (Scanno, the Province of L’Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy).

Since 2017 I have been an archaeological official at the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per le Province di L’Aquila e Teramo (Italian Ministry of Culture). I am a founding member of Matrix 96 Cooperative (www.matrix96.it) (2006), with a deep experience in preventive archaeology and valorization (I worked as a tour guide between 2003 and 2017 and collaborated with the “Accademia dei Lincei, in Rome). I have coordinated the interdisciplinary Project “PECUS - Pescasseroli Candela Upland Survey” and I have been an adjunct lecturer at the “Università degli Studi Internazionali di Roma – UNINT” (Protection and Management of Cultural Heritage).

I have dedicated the last ten years to the study of pastoralism in Central-Southern Italy (with a specific focus on the dialogue between local authorities and heritage communities, following the indications of the Faro Convention) and I have coordinated, together with other colleagues, the application for a multidisciplinary ERC research project (“Sapienza”, University of Rome) dedicated to the sheep-tracks network (Tratturi) between Abruzzo, Molise and Puglia. The project was not funded but the preparation process was a brilliant opportunity to gain skills useful for writing my Marie Curie project - “PaTHS”. Pastoral Tracks Heading South: The evolution of the droveways ‘tratturi’ in Central-Southern Italy) (2023).

Area of expertise:

Pastoralism

Ethnoarchaeology

Prehistory

Landscape archaeology

Valorization

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Francesca-Del-Fattore-2

https://orcid.org/0009-0003-4823-4551

From 2010 to 2016 I directed a mountain archaeology project (surveys and excavation) in Abruzzo ("FLUTURNUM - Archaeology and Anthropology in the Tasso and upper Sagittarius valleys"). Afterwards, from 2017 to 20121 I coordinated a multidisciplinary research project on one of the droveways that connected the Apennines to the Apulian Tavoliere ("PECUS - Pescasseroli Candela Upland Survey" ).

Current project:

• “PaTHS. Pastoral Tracks Heading South: The evolution of the droveways ‘tratturi’ in Central-Southern Italy” - MSCA (2023)

PaTHS focuses on pastoral routes (the "tratturi") in Central-Southern Italy and will have 3 main focuses: I will try to investigate the origin and evolution of transhumance droveways in two sample areas (Abruzzo and Puglia) and the role of the tratturi in the development of local historic landscapes and environments. I will  also try to assess the effect of the recent (1960s-2000s) decline of transhumance and abandonment of tratturi on local landscapes, heritage and environments.

As an archaeological officer at the Italian Ministry of Culture, I coordinated the "Uffico Tratturi" of the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per le Province di L`Aquila e Teramo from 2022 to 2024. From, 2020 to 2022, I worked as an adjunct professor at the University of International Studies in Rome, teaching protection and management of cultural heritage (Bachelor of Science in International Economics and Digital and Master in World Heritage Management and Enhancement of Cultural Heritage and Activities).