RURAL HISTORY 2025
International Conference
University of Coimbra (Portugal)
September 9-12, 2025
The international conference Rural History 2025, held at the University of Coimbra between September 9th and 12th, featured a session promoted by the Tramontana Network which generated great interest among the many participants.
The session, entitled “Water, upland settlement, and memory: multidisciplinary perspectives on rural history in the 20th century” took place on September 10th at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, moderated by Luis Gomes da Costa of Binaural Nodar and Eltjana Shkreli of GO2 Albania.
During the session, five papers were presented that explored various topics related to water management, cultural heritage, and community memory in different regions of Europe, including the Albanian Alps (Eltjana Shkreli and Liridona Ura from GO2 Albania), the Upper Vomano and Aterno valleys in the Abruzzo region of Italy (Silvia Pallini and Renata De Rugeriis from LEM-Italia), the relationship between the Bisagno torrent in the Italian area of Genoa and the Paiva river valley in Portugal (Luis Gomes da Costa from Binaural Nodar), and the Owl mountains in Poland (Maciej Kierzkowski and Magdalena Masewicz-Kierzkowska from Akademia Profil).
The presentations highlighted the importance of the interaction between water, local identities, oral history, and sustainability, revealing the richness of multidisciplinary approaches to understanding aspects of rural history in the 20th century.
The diversity of topics and the quality of the research presented contributed to a debate that reinforced the role of the Tramontana Network in promoting knowledge about European rural history among the scientific community and in building bridges between researchers from different countries and disciplines (geography, architecture, history, anthropology, and art).
Photographs by Liliana Silva and Ana Ferreira for Binaural Nodar and Tramontana Network.
Binaural Nodar is a cultural organization supported by the Portuguese Republic – Culture, Youth, and Sports | Directorate-General for the Arts.
