Leopoldo Zampiccoli received his BA in Archaeology and MA in Ancient Civilisations at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice. As an exchange student, he has also studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Leiden University, and the Venice International University. His MA dissertation dealt with Syro-Hittite multilingual monuments along the Late Bronze to Iron Age transition, questioning simple equations of language and material culture to ethnicity. Through speculative approaches to the archaeological and epigraphical record (including sudden appearances, historical consciousness, colonial nostalgia, and cultural memory), the result was a contextualisation of multilingualism as part of the post-Hittite developments in the broader region. In turn, through a parallel analysis of monuments as hard and soft memory, he began outlining the possible cultural, religious and literary phenomena that are implied by the presence of such multilingual monuments.
Beyond his chronological focus, Leopoldo has studied topics in the history, languages, and material culture of the Near and Middle East, from prehistory to the present. Furthermore, he has taken part in archaeological projects in Italy (Entella, Sicily), Israel (Ashdod Yam), Iraqi Kurdistan (Gir-e Gomel), and the Czech Republic (Líšeň/Podolí). Leopoldo is also actively involved in different artistic, cultural and civic projects. In parallel to the 2022 Venice Biennale, he co-curated ‘mother water, mother mud’, a sound and performance art exhibition at IKONA Photogallery, and has been working for the African Art in Venice Forum.
Leopoldo is interested in cross-linguistic, cross-disciplinary, comparative, and speculative approaches to language and writing. At ISAW he will continue explore cultural connections, narratives, and identities in the eastern Mediterranean space along the Late Bronze and Iron Age. In parallel, he will further develop his theoretical framework on culture, history and mnemohistory. Leopoldo is driven by, and committed to, a necessary, continuous dialogue with contemporary and decolonial perspectives from heritage, arts, and society, both within and beyond academia.