Conceived in 2016 by Barbara Faedda, the Academy’s Executive Director, the International Observatory for Cultural Heritage (IOCH) is dedicated to the preservation, conservation, and use of cultural heritage, especially treasures at risk from natural disasters, urban development, conflict, and environmental deterioration, as well as illicit transport and illegal trafficking.
The IOCH builds on Italy's expertise in cultural heritage and the Italian Academy's deep commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration. Drawing from an array of international areas of knowledge, we focus on critical questions: How is cultural meaning constructed and transmitted? What constitutes authenticity in heritage practices? What role does heritage play in identity formation? How can one define the ethics of heritage intervention and interpretation?
We seek to understand how communities maintain their living cultural traditions—not simply preserving artifacts or recording past practices but nurturing the authenticity and significance of these items and traditions.
By means of dialogue among archaeologists, art historians, architects, conservators, scientists, and technical experts—with close attention to community-centered approaches—the IOCH embraces both tangible and intangible heritage while fostering cross-cultural understanding of preservation practices.
This work is developed through multi-year projects, fellowships, conferences, exhibitions (in our galleries and online), and through books including
- A Lost Mediterranean Culture: The Giant Statues of Sardinia's Mont'e Prama (Barbara Faedda and Paolo Carta, eds.; Columbia University Press, 2023)
- Tharros: A Sardinian Treasure in the Ancient Mediterranean (Barbara Faedda and Paolo Carta, eds.; Columbia University Press, October 2025)
- A Shared Global Heritage: Architectural History, Conservation, and Preservation (Barbara Faedda, ed.; Italian Academy Publications, 2023), and
- Architectural History and Contemporary Preservation Trends (Barbara Faedda, ed.; Italian Academy Publications, December 2025),
Symposium March 3, 2026
Post-Earthquake Reconstruction of a Historic City: Learning from L'Aquila, Italy
Symposium February 27, 2026
Mapping the Hidden Threads of “Made in Italy”: Fashion Museums, Material Culture, & Cultural Heritage as Drivers of Value
Book Publication October 2025
Tharros: A Sardinian Treasure in the Ancient Mediterranean
Columbia University Press
Book Publication October 2025
Architectural History and Contemporary Preservation Trends
Italian Academy Publications
Gallery Exhibition March 27, 2025 (ongoing)
Gallery Exhibition — 50 Years Since the Discoveries at Mont’e Prama: Sardinia’s 3000-Year-Old Culture
Symposium March 27, 2025
50 Years Since the Discoveries at Mont’e Prama: Sardinia’s 3000-Year-Old Culture
Gallery Exhibition April 9, 2024, to March 11, 2025
Gallery Exhibition — Nuragic Culture in Barumini
Roundtable April 9, 2024
New Reports from Sardinia’s UNESCO Site: Nuragic Culture in Barumini
Book Publication November 14, 2023
A Shared Global Heritage: Architectural History, Conservation, and Preservation
Italian Academy Publications
Online Digital Exhibition September 8, 2023 (ongoing)
The Ancient City of Tharros
Book Publication May 17, 2023
A Lost Mediterranean Culture: The Giant Statues of Sardinia's Mont'e Prama
Columbia University Press
Gallery Exhibition April 12, 2023, to April 1, 2024
The Ancient City of Tharros: Rich Tombs and Extensive Ruins from Punic and Roman Times
Roundtable April 12, 2023
The Ancient City of Tharros: Rich Tombs and Extensive Ruins from Punic and Roman Times
Symposium November 11, 2022
African Photography: The Ethics of Looking and Collecting in the Age of Restitution
Online Digital Exhibition April 15, 2022 (ongoing)
The Giant Heroes of Mont'e Prama: Recovering Ancient Sardinian Heritage
Symposium November 11, 2021
Environment, Climate, and Cultural Heritage: Native American Perspectives
Interview May 7, 2021
The Role of the Carabinieri in the Protection of Global Cultural Heritage
Symposium April 9, 2021
The Benin Bronzes: Towards the Resolution of a Long-Standing Dispute?
Conference March 27, 2020
The Giants of Mont'e Prama (postponed)
Symposium October 18, 2019
The Restitution Debate: African Art in a Global Society
Workshop October 3, 2019
Cultural Heritage Practices & Critical Fashion Theory
Exhibition October 3, 2019
"Full of Enthusiasm": American Buyers Captured by Italian Fashion in the 1950s
Symposium March 8, 2019
Resisting, Reclaiming, Reframing: Indigenous Communities of North America and Art Museum Collections
Symposium October 11, 2018
From Res Nullius to Terra Nullius: Revisiting Indigenous Histories, Legal Systems and Land Rights in the Naqab
Exhibition October 10, 2018
Ground Truth: Testimonies of Destruction and Return in Al-Araqib
Lecture April 5, 2018
The Iraq Museum, ISIS, and Antiquities Trafficking (Matthew Bogdanos, NY Assistant District Attorney)
Symposium March 27, 2018
Threatened Heritage in Utah and New Mexico: Bears Ears, Chaco, and other Native American Sacred Sites
Symposium February 16, 2018
Cultural Heritage in Conflict Zones: Syria and the world (James Cuno, Getty Trust; Vishakha Desai, Columbia; Edward Luck, Columbia; Thomas Weiss, CUNY Graduate Center; Mariët Westermann, Mellon Foundation)
Symposium February 8, 2018
Spaces and Geographies of Concentration Camps in Italy and across Europe (Holocaust Remembrance)
Lecture October 19, 2017
Italy’s Role in International Cultural Conservation: Syria, Middle East, and Beyond (Dario Franceschini, Italian Minister of Cultural Heritage)
Lecture October 19, 2017
On the New Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah (Dario Disegni, President of the Museum)
Exhibition October 16, 2017
War and Art: Destruction and Protection of Italian Art during WWI
Lecture April 20, 2017
Greek and Roman Drawing in the Renaissance Imagination (Salvatore Settis)
Lecture March 23, 2017
The 2016 Archaeological Campaign at Hadrian’s Villa
Symposium February 8, 2017
Looted Art, Nazism, and Fascism in Germany and Italy (Holocaust Remembrance)
Exhibition October 18, 2016
Landscapes and Artifacts in Syria and Iraq (Photographs by Massimiliano Gatti)
Sardinia Cultural Heritage Project
Supported by the Autonomous Region of Sardinia, with collaboration from the Mont’e Prama Foundation, this project includes two books from Columbia University Press, several digital exhibitions and gallery exhibitions, and conferences. In a linked initiative, the Academy facilitated the loan of a colossal statue to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (on display in 2023).
The Sidney J. Weinberg Jr. Foundation supports four Fellows each year in studying the conservation of architecture of all geographic areas and periods, including crisis management and war destruction.
Amatrice in Focus: Earthquakes and Photography—Recording the Past, Planning the Future
A digital exhibition on the earthquake-damaged town of Amatrice and the fate of its cultural heritage. Developed by former Fellow Francesco Gangemi, in collaboration with the Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte, and with the Soprintendenza archeologia del Lazio as an official partner.
Based at Columbia’s Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, an international team has digitized and analyzed Sebastiano Serlio’s works. Funding for research and scholarship is provided by the Sidney J. Weinberg, Jr. Foundation and by the Samuel Freeman Charitable Trust.
FRIDA Venice— Festivals in Renaissance Italy: Digital Atlas
With funding from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and the participation of Prof. Giuseppe Gerbino, former Fellow Francesca Bortoletti is developing a project on the interactions among texts and images in humanistic and court culture.
Advanced Program of Ancient History and Art
The Italian Academy served as incubator for this global Columbia program created with the University of Rome’s H2CU. At Hadrian’s Villa, APAHA trains junior scholars in advanced archaeology.