The study of historical theatrical archives presents significant methodological challenges, particularly when addressing heterogeneous and structurally complex collections. The Fondo Metastasio documents the institutional, administrative, and cultural activity of the Teatro Metastasio (Prato), including deliberations, correspondence, accounting records, technical documentation, and legal acts. The investigation focuses on the period between 1827 and 1860, a chronological framework identified as most suitable for constructing the historical and interpretative structure of the research. This temporal delimitation was chosen due to the breadth, consistency, and heterogeneity of the documentary materials.
Traditional archival research emphasizes provenance, original order, and material features, all essential for historical interpretation. Yet these principles alone do not fully illuminate the relational and functional configurations that underlie the records. This paper presents the design and implementation of a relational digital infrastructure that transforms this complex corpus into a structured, queryable research environment while preserving archival integrity.
The project models the theatre as a socio-technical system. Archival documents are digitized and described, then restructured within a relational database that integrates entities such as individuals, administrative bodies, events, contracts, and physical spaces. Rather than privileging document typology alone, the system encodes institutional functions (deliberation, financial management, contractual negotiation, technical production) thereby enabling researchers to trace processes across documentary boundaries.
The resulting platform supports multidimensional analysis through cross-entity querying and visualization tools, including temporal sequences, correspondence networks, and institutional interaction graphs. These tools reveal patterns of governance, responsibility distribution, and production logistics that remain partially obscured in conventional archival consultation. The paper demonstrates how relational modeling can generate new historical insights into the operational dynamics of nineteenth-century theatrical institutions.
Methodologically, the project contributes to ongoing debates within the Digital Humanities concerning data modeling, interoperability, and sustainability. By combining established archival standards with functional modeling and linked data approaches, it proposes a scalable framework for representing complex cultural heritage collections.
Beyond the specific case study, this research highlights the epistemological implications of digital modeling in humanities scholarship. Modeling is not a neutral act of transcription but an interpretative process that formalizes relationships and makes analytical assumptions explicit. By foregrounding transparency and reproducibility, the project situates digital infrastructure as both a research tool and a scholarly argument.
The Metastasio model thus serves as a prototype for the digital edition of theatrical archives conceived not merely as repositories of digitized documents, but as dynamic research environments. It demonstrates how computational techniques, relational databases, linked data, and visualization interfaces, can extend traditional archival methods, enabling new forms of inquiry into cultural and institutional history.