CADMO Centre

The second paragraph of Article 9 in the Italian Constitution implies that the role of cultural protection is attributed to the entire Republic. By the sense of vigilance and civil commitment, cultural protection belongs to every branch of the Republic itself, to every citizen, to institutions (such as schools or universities), and to public administrations of every level or kind. This is why the University for Foreigners of Siena perceives the full responsibility for education of cultural heritage, first and foremost towards its own community, in all its components, and therefore towards the citizens of Siena, its territory and the Italian Republic.

In order to undertake this mission, the University for Foreigners of Siena has established a University Research and Services Centre: “CADMO - Center of Archeology for Pre-Roman Diversity and Mobility”.
The aim of CADMO is to implement the Constitutional project, in the most advanced and effective forms, making archeology the main theme of the research promoted. This mission does not follow a traditional perspective, but rather aims at studying the protection and valorisation of diversity and different forms of mobility (social, cultural, economic, etc.) in a long-term perspective and stimulating interdisciplinarity, with a dedicated emphasis to the territory of the province of Siena and the ancient landscape of Tuscany. Multiculturalism and multilingualism (according to the mission of the University) are the constitutive basis of research, as it is documented in the archaeological record and in a broader sense in the disciplines of classical studies, art history, anthropology, and sciences of antiquity.
The implementation of the Constitutional project through those processes - that are based on the interaction of citizenship with its material and immaterial heritage - calls for the establishment of innovative strategies and solutions for the use, transformation and conservation of common heritage, through mechanisms of shared identity. The ambition of CADMO is to activate forms of sustainable and circular economy which have at their core the conscious use of cultural heritage, as a premise for its maintenance and recognition.
The name of the center recalls the mythical founder of Thebes, King Cadmus, who dug and planted the teeth of the dragon of Colchis in the earth from which the towers of the city and its walls were generated. The story of the ‘first’ city founded, in the time of myth, becomes an example of citizenship education that fertilizes and promotes new forms of contemporary society.

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