An important collaboration with great potential has commenced between the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana and the Liceo Classico Machiavelli, a secondary school in Florence. The Library’s online assets and the expertise of the school’s teaching staff have made it possible to explore the fascinating journey of Greek manuscripts from Byzantium to Florence.

The Liceo Classico Machiavelli (Liceo Machiavelli Firenze) has launched a project to study Greek culture – from antiquity to today – with introductory lessons on modern Greek (language and literature) and the instruments needed to read and understand ancient manuscripts (philology, palaeography and philosophy). Two different and complementary activities will be launched during the academic year. In addition to the project that has already introduced the students from four classes to the priceless manuscript codices at the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana and allowed them to enjoy the recent exhibition on Byzantine codices, the secondary school is proposing a series of conferences and workshops also open to outside users, through the education agency it oversees. This expanded course will provide the basic instruments needed to understand the transmission of Greek culture (literature as well as art, philosophy and science) from the Byzantine East to the West, focusing in particular on the ongoing relations that tied Florence to Constantinople and to Greece. The conferences and workshops will be held by experts in these fields. The starting dates and titles of the lessons will be published on the school website at the beginning of the 2011/12 academic year.

The school website also features the discussions by teachers and students presented at the convention entitled “Alle fonti della cultura classica” that concluded the first phase of the project.