Simona DI STEFANO
Tutor: Maria DE LUCA
Simona Di Stefano is a doctoral student in the Heritage and Cultural Production Sciences program (40th cycle) at the Department of Humanities (DISUM) of the University of Catania. She is working on the “experience in scene” project, focused on the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania. Through this project, she aims to explore the potential of immersive technologies for heritage enhancement, using stage photographs of theatrical productions as a starting point.
Since 2026 – ongoing: Member of the editorial board of the scholarly series “9/CENTO. Studies and Research on the Arts of the Short Century.” The series is edited by V. U. Vicari, published by Euracus (Catania), and undergoes double-blind peer review.
Since 2023, she has served as an exhibition art curator at the Tinni Tinni ArtsClub, a cultural and artistic space dedicated to music and contemporary art. In 2022, she founded and has since directed the digital magazine madin.ilcaffeonline, an e-zine dedicated to contemporary artistic heritage, spanning art and fashion; link: https://madin.ilcaffeonline.it/
From 2022 to 2025, she served as a subject expert in Contemporary Art History (ABST47) at the Academy of Fine Arts in Catania. She earned her master’s degree in Artistic Design for Business—Fashion Design in 2022, with a design thesis titled “madin.in art, fashion. An independent e-zine bridging art and fashion”.
Previously, she earned a bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design and Publishing with a thesis on the archive and life of “Roberto Capucci: Secret Harmonies.” During her time at university, she curated educational exhibitions such as “Dorotea Reloaded. Memories of Fashion in Sicily” at Villa Spaccaforno in Modica and helped organize various national exhibitions such as “Libero Elio Romano. 1909–1996” at the Palazzo della Cultura in Catania and “The ’60s–’70s Generation: Founders and Fine Arts Academies in Italy During the Era of Protest” at the GAM Gallery of Modern Art in Catania.
keywords: contemporary art, immersive, photography, promotion, archive, curation, theater.
My research project is situated within the field of digital humanities and the enhancement of historical and artistic cultural heritage. The research, titled 'Experience in Scene. Enhancing the photographic archive of the Teatro Massimo Bellini through the use of immersive technologies', aims to define new methodologies for the communication, digitalization, and use of theater archive assets.
Through testing Virtual Reality (immersive technologies), virtual environments, and interactive and intermedia solutions, this study wants to transform the document and photographic heritage of the Theater into an accessible narrative ecosystem. This will connect the historical memory of the shows with the new needs of the modern public and cultural production.
Research interests (in progress)
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Enhancement and digitalization of cultural heritage
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Immersive technologies and Virtual Reality (VR) applied to cultural heritage
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Stage photography, theater archives, and performing arts visuals (digital musicology heritage)
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Immersive Museology and user experience (UX) design in exhibition spaces
Academic Publishing Activities
2026 – Present: Member of the Editorial Board for the academic book series “9/CENTO. Studi e ricerche sulle arti del secolo breve”, edited by Euracus (Catania) and directed by Vittorio Ugo Vicari. Publications in this series undergo a rigorous double-blind peer review process.
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2026: Speaker at the XVI Doctoral Conference of the Macroarea of Letters and Philosophy: “Signs and symbols. Practices of signification between media, space, power, and education”, presenting a paper titled: “Re-mediating the photographic sign in the context of Immersive Museology: the case of the Teatro Massimo Bellini archive in Catania”. University of Rome "Tor Vergata" (Rome, July 1-3, 2026).
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2025: Poster Presenter (co-authored with Sharon Deborah Tudisco) at the International Conference “CHAIN 2025 – Landscapes and Ecology of Culture. Between Humanity and Nature”, presenting the poster: “Contemporary landscapes: an immersive look at theater space”. University of Catania (Catania, November 26-29, 2025).
Conferences and Seminars
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2026: Speaker at the XVI Doctoral Conference of the Macroarea of Letters and Philosophy: “Signs and symbols. Practices of signification between media, space, power, and education”, presenting a paper titled: “Re-mediating the photographic sign in the context of Immersive Museology: the case of the Teatro Massimo Bellini archive in Catania”. University of Rome "Tor Vergata" (Rome, July 1-3, 2026).
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2025: Poster Presenter (co-authored with Sharon Deborah Tudisco) at the International Conference “CHAIN 2025 – Landscapes and Ecology of Culture. Between Humanity and Nature”, presenting the poster: “Contemporary landscapes: an immersive look at theater space”. University of Catania (Catania, November 26-29, 2025).
Organizational Activities
2025: Member of the logistics team and organizing secretariat for the 4th International Conference CHAIN – Cultural Heritage Academic Interdisciplinary Network: “Landscapes and Ecology of Culture. Between Humanity and Nature”. Provided support for the management and logistical coordination of the event, hosted by the PhD Program in Sciences for Cultural Heritage and Cultural Production, University of Catania (Catania, November 26-29, 2025).
Participation in Research Groups / Exhibition Organization / Curatorial Activities
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2026 – Present: Curator and Organizer for the upcoming edition of the International Conference “CHAIN 2027 – Cultural Heritage Academic Interdisciplinary Network”.
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2026: Scientific collaboration for the retrospective exhibition “Antonio Santacroce. Maestro dell'immaginazione e della materia” (Catania, Museum of Knowledge and Sicilian Mirabilia, February 20 – April 30, 2026) specifically, I curated the section layout for the exhibition itinerary dedicated to the artist's unpublished works, and I contributed an essay on the same topic, published in the official catalogue of the exhibition (published by Euracus, 9/CENTO series).
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2026 – Present: Curator for the upcoming edition of the International Conference “CHAIN 2027 – Cultural Heritage Academic Interdisciplinary Network”.
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2026: Scientific collaboration for the retrospective exhibition “Antonio Santacroce. Maestro dell'immaginazione e della materia” (Catania, Museum of Knowledge and Sicilian Mirabilia, February 20 – April 30, 2026). Member of the inter-institutional research team; specifically, I curated the section layout for the exhibition itinerary dedicated to the artist's unpublished works, and I contributed an essay on the same topic, published in the official catalogue of the exhibition (published by Euracus, 9/CENTO series).
- Di STEFANO, Simona (2026). The Plots of Santacroce. In V.U. Vicari (ed.), Antonio Santacroce: Master of Imagination and Matter (pp. 41–46). ISBN: 979-12-80777-01-0. Catania: Euracus.
- DI STEFANO, Simona, TUDISCO, Sharon Debora (In press). Contemporary Landscapes: An Immersive View of Theatrical Space. Poster Presentation. In *Landscapes and Ecology of Culture. Between Humanity and Nature*. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference CHAIN – Cultural Heritage Academic Interdisciplinary Network (Catania, November 26–29, 2025).
- DI STEFANO, Simona (2022). [Review of] V. U. Vicari (ed.), Libero Elio Romano (1909–1996), Palermo, Sicilian Region, 2021. In Siculorum Gymnasium. A Journal for the Humanities, no. 8 “Invisible Bodies,” pp. 649–651. ISSN: 2499-667X. siculorum-8.pdf siculorum-8.pdf