Padua, 19 March 2025

SenSArt team will participate in the RSA Annual Meeting 2025 in Boston from March 20 to March 22.

SenSArt team will participate in the RSA Congress 2025 in Boston (March 20–22). Two sessions, organized by Valentina Baradel, Teresa Martínez Martínez, and Zuleika Murat, are entitled “Sensing the Elements in the Experience of the Sacred (Fourteenth–Sixteenth Centuries)” and will take place on March 22. These sessions explore the multisensory dimension of human experience triggered by the elements within liturgical and devotional contexts.

More information about the sessions are provided below.

First Session – Sensing the Elements in the Experience of the Sacred (14th-16th
century) – I. Fire and Air (2:30 PM – 4:00 PM – Boston Westin Copley Place – Parliament Room – 7th Floor)

This session will focus on two elements: Fire and Air, analysing not merely their use in liturgical performances but, more significantly, their effects on the body and the associated spiritual meanings. For instance, fire can be understood in terms of the perception of warmth, invoking virtues such as the flame of devotion, charity, and the love of God. Similarly, one interpretation of air considers it an unhealthy element, a carrier of physical and, consequently, spiritual diseases.

Moderator: Teresa Martínez Martínez, Università degli Studi di Padova

1. Zuleika Murat, Università degli Studi di Padova, “Flames of Devotion: Handwarmers, Thermoception, and the Spiritual Meaning of Warmth in Early Modern Europe”
2. Vittorio Frighetto, Università degli Studi di Padova, “Kindling the Sacred: Analysing the Role of Fire in Late Medieval Liturgical Practices”
3. Valentina Baradel, Università degli Studi di Padova, “Sacred Breezes: The Sensorial and Spiritual Significance of Liturgical Fans”
4. Alessandro Vecchia, Università degli Studi di Padova, “Corrupted Air, Haunted Air: Diseases, Demons, and Medicine in Early Modern Italy”

Second Session – Sensing the Elements in the Experience of the Sacred (Fourteenth–Sixteenth) – II. Water (4:30 PM – 6:00 PM – Boston Westin Copley Place – Parliament Room – 7th Floor)

Our objective for this session is to approach the crucial role played by water in Christian religious experience. While water has been a long-discussed element related to christian rituals and sacred spaces, there is still room to delve into its sensorial qualities. In addressing water from the sensorial approach, we bring the perception of this element within christian practices to the focus.

Moderator: Zuleika Murat, Università degli Studi di Padova

1. Gianmario Guidarelli, Università degli Studi di Padova, “Water and Reformed Monastic Life in 15th-18th Century Architecture”
2. Andrea Toffolon, Università di Padova-Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, “Sacred Hot Mineral Springs: Shaping Religion through Senses in Early Modern Italy”
3. Teresa Martínez Martínez, Università degli Studi di Padova, “Body of Water. The Sensorial Role of Rivers and Waterfalls in Religious Contexts (Iberian Peninsula)”