Francesca Fantappiè

Fonction: Post-doctorante

Courriel: francesca.fantappie@univ-tours.fr

Discipline: Arts du Spectacle

Responsabilités: 

Financing Festivals, Music and Theatre: Real Expenses and Fictional Expenditures in France between the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries [SPECTACLECONOMICS]

Projet H2020-MSCA-IF-2020 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (2021-2023)

How were court and civic festivities funded in the early modern period? This innovative, interdisciplinary project aims to shed light on an often-disregarded aspect of the history of the theatre and music: the economic realities of the production of public and private ceremonial and entertainment in early modern France. Scholars have tended to examine multiple aspects of such festivities but there is still no specific, systematic research that has dealt with quantifying the expenditure on such ephemeral cultural activities that could themselves be the subject of both blame and praise. The conventional view of festivities as a case of lavish conspicuous consumption is often supported by one set of sources reporting on it, such as printed descriptions, diary entries, letters, and so forth. But the information contained within these documents is usually determined by their function (official propaganda) or its sources (hearsay and gossip). Financial accounts of these festivities themselves, however, often present a different picture wherein expenses are carefully controlled and subject to prudent budget management. The gap between these “real” expenses and “fictional” expenditures is akin to the gap between reality and theatrical illusion itself. The results of this pioneering survey, alongside with those on Florentine festival expenses, will make a further step towards a comprehensive study of the economics of spectacle at a transnational and European level.

Supervisor : Philippe Canguilhem

CV court: 

In 2018 she obtained the Italian National Habilitation as associate professor (10/C sector : Theatre, Music, Cinema, Television, Audiovisual Media).

Thèmes de Recherche: 

Her publications cover all possible aspects of spectacle : text, music, dramaturgy, stagecraft and scenography, theatre architecture, performers, social, political and economic contexts from Renaissance to Ancient Regime.

Cursus studiorum: 

She has a PhD in "Discipline Filosofiche, Discipline Artistiche, Teatrali e Cinematografiche" (Università Cattolica di Milano, 2008).

Bourses et prix: 

  • 2019-2020 : Fellow at Villa I Tatti (The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies in Florence) with the project: “The Economics of ‘Meraviglia’: Theatre, Music and Money at the Medici Court”.