The Istituto Internazionale di Studi Liguri (Eng.: International Institute of Ligurian Studies) is an educational institution in

Bordighera Bordighera (; lij, A Bordighea, locally ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Imperia, Liguria (Italy). Geography Bordighera is located from the land border between Italy and France, and it is possible to see the French coast with a nak ...

, Imperia, devoted to the study of the history of

Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...

and all the coastal regions of the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

that were originally populated by the

Ligurians The Ligures (singular Ligur; Italian: liguri; English: Ligurians) were an ancient people after whom Liguria, a region of present-day north-western Italy, is named. Ancient Liguria corresponded more or less to the current Italian regio ...

. The building is located at Via Romana 39 and once housed the Hotel Scandinavia.

History

The creation of the International Institute of Ligurian Studies is credited to the partnership between Margaret Berry and Nino Lamboglia. In 1888,

Clarence Bicknell Clarence Bicknell (27 August 1842 – 17 July 1918) was a British vicar, amateur archaeologist, botanist, artist, Esperantist, author and philanthropist. He founded the Bicknell Museum in Bordighera, Italy. Also named after him is a street in Bor ...

built the

Bicknell Museum The Clarence Bicknell Museum is a small concealed building at 39 Via Romana in Bordighera. This is often referred to as its official address, but the large villa is the seat of the International Institute of Ligurian Studies. To the right of the ...

at Via Romana 39, and when he died in 1918, he left the museum to the municipality of Bordighera, which planned to relocate it. Bicknell's grandson Edward Elhanan Berry, together with his wife Margaret, fought to keep the museum intact, and after five years, the municipality withdrew its plans to rehouse it. Thus, in 1924, the museum was transformed into an independent institution and its collections, at the time essentially linked to botany and prehistory, were expanded to include local art, history, and traditions. In 1932, the first historical association of the

Italian Riviera The Italian Riviera or Ligurian Riviera ( it, Riviera ligure; lij, Rivêa lìgure) is the narrow coastal strip in Italy which lies between the Ligurian Sea and the mountain chain formed by the Maritime Alps and the Apennines. Longitudinall ...

, the Società Storico-Archeologica Ingauna e Intemelia (Ingauna and Intemelia Historico-Archaeological Society), was formed in

Albenga Albenga ( lij, Arbenga; la, Albingaunum) is a city and ''comune'' situated on the Gulf of Genoa on the Italian Riviera in the Province of Savona in Liguria, northern Italy. Albenga has the nickname of ''city of a hundred spires''. The economy is ...

. Margaret Berry, whose husband Edward had died in Rome in 1931, was one of the first members of the society, and in agreement with Professor Nino Lamboglia, she established the headquarters of the association at the Bicknell Museum. The transformation of the Ingauna and Intemelia Historico-Archaeological Society into the Institute of Ligurian Studies took place in 1937, and Lamboglia became its manager. In 1947, the "international" epithet was added to the name, with the aim of strengthening cooperation between scholars on the Italo-French coast. The institute currently has twenty-one sections, of which sixteen are in Italy, three in France, and two in Spain. In Italy, it is particularly active in Liguria, Piedmont, Lombardy, and northwestern Tuscany — these being the regions closely corresponding with the territories formerly populated by the Ligurians. In France, the institute is particularly active in the Rhone Valley and in general in the south of the country, within the borders of ancient

Gallia Narbonensis Gallia Narbonensis (Latin for "Gaul of Narbonne", from its chief settlement) was a Roman province located in what is now Languedoc and Provence, in Southern France. It was also known as Provincia Nostra ("Our Province"), because it was the ...

References

External links

Official website
Liguria Education in Italy {{italy-org-stub