A hands-on workshop exploring writing materials and practices from Antiquity to the Middle Ages.

Like many other Italian cities, Cassino hosted European Researchers’ Night on Friday, 25 September 2026, as part of the STREETS – Science, Technology and Research for Ethical Engagement Translated in Society project, organised by the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio. Among the many activities that animated the day was the LiBeR – Libro e Ricerca laboratory of the Department of Humanities, with the stand Before Copy and Paste: How People Wrote from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, organised by Nina Sietis with the support of Andrea Improta and Elvira Zambardi.

Students of all ages, from primary to upper secondary school, had the opportunity to handle some of the main writing materials used in antiquity, including wax tablets, papyrus and parchment, while discovering their characteristics, functions and uses. This hands-on experience offered a better understanding of how texts were produced, preserved and transmitted before the advent of printing and digital technologies.

Alongside the demonstrations, visitors could examine a selection of valuable facsimiles, exceptionally loaned by the “G. Aprea” Humanities Library of the University of Cassino. These included reproductions of the celebrated “Neapolitan Ovid”, a copy of the Metamorphoses written in Beneventan script in the eleventh century and preserved at the National Library of Naples (MS IV F 3), and of the richly decorated manuscript now held at the British Library in London (MS Royal 6 E IX), containing Convenevole da Prato’s Regia Carmina, a collection of verses dedicated to King Robert of Anjou..

The initiative provided an important opportunity for dialogue between research and society, confirming the value of hands-on activities and public engagement in making specialist subjects accessible to a broad and diverse audience. The interest and enthusiasm of the helped to make the experience particularly meaningful and rewarding for everyone involved.