MeMo – Memory of Montecassino, recognised and funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research under the Projects of Relevant National Interest programme (PRIN 2020), was established on the initiative of a group of scholars and specialists from the LIBeR – Libro e Ricerca Laboratory of the Department of Humanities and Philosophy at the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio.

The project is devoted to the study, preservation and enhancement of the written heritage held in the Archive and Library of the National Monument of Montecassino. Through coordinated programmes of survey, cataloguing and digitisation, MeMo makes manuscripts, archival documents and incunabula more readily accessible, bringing renewed scholarly attention to an essential part of Europe’s cultural heritage.

The project is organised around three research units, each focusing on a different area of the Montecassino collections. The Research Unit of the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio has been principally responsible for the survey, scholarly description and digitisation of the manuscripts; the Research Unit of Sapienza University of Rome has worked on the medieval documentary holdings of the Archive; and the Research Unit of the University of Catania has focused on the study, cataloguing and enhancement of the incunabula.

The results produced by the three units converge within an integrated, open and expandable digital environment that brings together scholarly descriptions, high-resolution images and interoperable metadata. Designed for both the academic community and a wider audience, the portal enables users to explore and compare materials of different kinds, offers virtual exhibitions and educational resources, and experiments with new solutions for the representation, sharing and long-term preservation of cultural heritage in a digital environment.

Collaboration with the monastic community of Montecassino and with regional, national and international research institutions further broadens the scope of the project. MeMo is also supported by an International Scientific Advisory Board, which brings together scholars and representatives of leading institutions and helps strengthen the project’s scholarly quality, openness and international dimension through scientific and methodological exchange.