On Friday 16 October at 4 pm, the conference Heretics and Witches from Antiquity to the Present Day will take place in the Council Chamber of Ceppaloni Town Hall. The event will bring together scholars to discuss witchcraft, marginality, knowledge and the historical construction of otherness.

The conference will be introduced and chaired by Professor Cristina Ciancio. Speakers will include historians Francesco Paolo de Ceglia of the University of Bari, Beatrice Del Bo of the University of Milan and Marina Montesano of the University of Messina, alongside anthropologists Paolo Portone, coordinator of the “Giuseppe Bonomo” Laboratory, and Maria Scarinzi of Janua – the Museum of Witches in Benevento. Drawing on different disciplinary perspectives, the speakers will explore the historical and cultural construction of figures placed at the margins of society, with particular attention to the relationship between women, knowledge, witchcraft, exclusion and forms of social control.

The event stems from a desire to address marginality not as a peripheral element of history, but as a key to understanding the cultural, social and symbolic processes that, over the centuries, have helped define what a community considers acceptable, deviant, legitimate or forbidden.

The conference is part of the Voci eretiche (Heretical Voices) initiative, which forms part of Marginalia. Libri e memorie da riscrivere (Marginalia: Books and Memories to Be Rewritten). This programme brings together books, research, oral history and the local area to bring back into focus stories, figures and voices that have remained on the margins. It is promoted by Ceppaloni Town Council, with support from the Centre for Books and Reading (Centro per il libro e la lettura), and involves the DEMM – Department of Law, Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at the University of Sannio, under the scientific direction of Professor Cristina Ciancio.

In the coming months, Marginalia. Libri e memorie da riscrivere will continue with author events, activities focusing on reading and memory, and further opportunities for discussion and exploration. The programme aims to strengthen connections between the local authority, the University, the library, cultural organisations and the wider community.