Teaching
At the heart of my teaching is an interest in archaeology and ancient history and the influence of Antiquity on early modern Europe. I have a humanistic approach to education, aiming to promote the personal improvement of my students by creating connections between ancient ideas and modern-day issues such as gender and racial inequality.
I am committed to disseminating my research beyond Academia, as demonstrated by my long-standing collaboration with the Archaeology and Classics in the Community Project (School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester).
Research areas
I am a Royal Society of Edinburgh Saltire Early Career Fellow. I work mainly on Roman social and cultural history, ancient environments, and the reception of Antiquity in Early Modern Europe. I am particularly interested in ancient baths and balneology, focusing on their reception in Renaissance Italy and eighteenth-century England.
My first contact with ancient baths dates back to 2009 when as an MA student, I collaborated with the Vesuviana Project of the University of Bologna. My team recorded the rooms of the Casa del Centenario in Pompeii, and I was assigned to the beautiful private baths of this complex. My PhD project at the School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester (2012-17) looked at the social function of rural baths in Roman Britain. I am currently transforming my thesis into a book for Routledge, Rural Baths in Roman Britain: A Colonisation of the Senses, forthcoming in 2023. Building on Yannis Hamilakis’ concept of ‘sensorial assemblage’, the book addresses the role of memories, feelings, and sensory experiences associated with rural baths in the process of cultural change promoted by Rome in Britain.
After completing my PhD, I got interested in the rediscovery of Roman baths by antiquarians and architects from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries. This was the topic of my Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship at the School of Classics, University College Dublin (2019-2022): The Reception of Roman Baths in Early Modern Europe. Building on this study, my current RSE project, Women and the Baths in Ancient Medicine, explores the role of balneology in ancient gynaecological texts and their influence on Renaissance treatises.
I am a visual artist and I recently collaborated with novelist Victoria Thompson to explore the impact that imagination and art can have on archaeological research. I also wrote the narrative and designed the illustrations of the book for young adults Life in the Roman World, Roman Leicester (2018), co-authored with Sarah Scott and Mathew Morris. The book is the main outcome of the Archaeology and Classics in the Community Project at the University of Leicester, which develops sustainable school and community engagement programmes based on academic research.
Selected publications
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Open access
Roman worlds for diverse communities: bringing archaeology and classics to new audiences
Scott, S., Savani, G., Ainsworth, J., Hunt, A. & Kuhivchak, L., 19 Apr 2022, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Journal of Community Archaeology and Heritage. Latest Articles, 18 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Sensing the Past: Sensory Stimuli in Nineteenth-Century Depictions of Roman Baths
Savani, G., 2022, The Smells and Senses of Antiquity in the Modern Imagination. Grand-Clément, A. & Ribeyrol, C. (eds.). London: Bloomsbury, p. 119–137 (Imagines: Classical Receptions in the Visual and Performing Arts).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Open access
Review of C. B. Lake, Artifacts: How We Think and Write about Found Objects
Savani, G., 2021, In: Modern Philology. 119, 3, p. 114–118 4 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review
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Review of S. Maréchal, Public Baths and Bathing Habits in Late Antiquity
Savani, G., 2021, In: Nuncius. 36, 2, p. 471–473 3 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review
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Ambiguity and Omission: Creative Mediation of the Unknowable Past
Savani, G. & Thompson, V., 2020, Researching the Archaeological Past through Imagined Narratives: A Necessary Fiction. van Helden, D. & Witcher, R. (eds.). London: Routledge, p. 210-237Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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The Antique and the Natural: Exploring the Eighteenth-Century Textual Network
Savani, G. & Mattana, A., 2020, In: Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies. 43, 4, p. 423–432Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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The Lure of the Past: Ancient Balneology at the Turn of the Eighteenth Century
Savani, G., 2020, In: Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies. 43, 4, p. 433–445Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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A Misleading Source: The Fortuna of a Sixteenth-Century Engraving and Its Impact on The History of Roman Baths Studies
Savani, G., 1 Jul 2019, In: Classical Receptions Journal. 11, 3, p. 296-335 40 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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An Elusive Legacy: The Discovery of Roman Baths in Eighteenth-Century Britain
Savani, G., 2019, In: Britannia. 50, p. 13–48Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Horrible Histories (Series): The Groovy Greeks
Savani, G., 2019, In: Our Mythical Childhood Survey.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review