Review of the

28th Congress of the REI CRETARIAE ROMANAE FAUTORES

Catania, Italia (Sicily), 23-30 September 2012

Report

(by Philip Kenrick)

 

Photo Gallery

For the moment look at:   http://rcrfcatania2012.ibam.cnr.it/

 

In Catania, we were the guests of IBAM (Istituto per I Beni Archeologici e Monumentali) and its Director, Prof. Daniele Malfitana, for an unseasonally warm week at the end of September. The attendance of over 150 participants was amongst the highest experienced so far and this resulted, in addition to fifty or so oral papers, in a display of some eighty posters. Fortunately, one of the long corridors of the ex-Benedictine monastery, now occupied by the Faculty of Classics of the University of Catania, was amply sufficient for their display and consultation. Midday meals were typically provided in the cloisters of the monastery, providing shade from the heat and generous opportunities for the pursuit of informal contacts between scholars and friends.

The formal programme of lectures was relieved by the following excursions, each including hands-on pottery displays:

 

The General Meeting of the RCRF was presented with two attractive opportunities for the congress of 2016 to be held in Alexandria or Lisbon (the location of the 2014 congress being already fixed for Xanten, Germany) and a vote was held. Lisbon was chosen by a small margin and the presenters were thanked for their offers. The Editor (Susanne Biegert) and the Treasurer (Archer Martin) had both completed six years in their respective offices. They were willing to continue and, in the absence of other nominations, were each declared re-elected for a further six years.

The congress was followed by a two-day post-congress tour which visited Agrigento, Selinunte, Segesta and Palermo.