The PAL.M.A.I.S. archive
The PAL.M.A.I.S. project (Palmira Missione Archeologica Congiunta Italo‑Siriana) was launched in 2007 in collaboration with the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums of Syria (DGAM) and directed by Prof. Maria Teresa Grassi (University of Milan) and Waleed al‑As‘ad (Palmyra Museum). The aim of the project was to explore the southwestern quarter of Palmyra, a central sector of the ancient city that had never before been the subject of systematic excavation. The area, covering approximately 114,000 m², is bounded by the Agora, the Diocletian Walls, the Transverse Colonnaded Street, and the Great Colonnaded Street.
The first campaign, conducted between November and December 2007, focused on a detailed survey of the area, the reassessment of test trenches previously carried out by the DGAM, and the creation of a general plan of the quarter. Between 2007 and 2010, the mission concentrated its efforts on the excavation of a building identified during the survey: the Peristyle Building, located next to the city walls. The excavations uncovered part of a large private residential complex featuring a central courtyard with peristyle and rooms arranged along multiple sides, allowing the reconstruction of its transformation from the Roman period to the early Islamic period.
Field activities came to a halt in 2011 due to the war in Syria, but research continued through the study of the excavated materials and the documentation produced. The results of the mission are now preserved in a dedicated archive within the Archaeology Section of the Department of Cultural and Environmental Heritage at the University of Milan, where they continue to be studied by members of the project.
The work of revising and studying the archival material led to the publication of the volume The PAL.M.A.I.S. Syro‑Italian Joint Project. Selected essays on the southwest quarter and the Peristyle Building in memory of Prof. Maria Teresa Grassi, in the series Brepols Studies in Palmyrene Archaeology and History (https://www.brepols.net/products/IS-9782503607238-1).
Visit the website of Project PAL.M.A.I.S. (last update: 2021).
Publications
Intagliata, E.E. 2025. “What’s new in Palmyra? Notes on housing, society, and the role of the city after the 3rd century AD crisis”, in E.H. Seland, R. Raja (eds). Palmyra, the Roman Empire, and the Third Century Crisis. Zooming in and Scaling up from the Evidence (Oriens et Occidens, 46). Stuttgart: Frank Steiner Verlag, 298–316.
Intagliata, E.E. (ed.) 2025. The PAL.M.A.I.S. Syro-Italian Joint Project. Selected essays on the southwest quarter and the Peristyle Building in memory of Prof. Maria Teresa Grassi (Studies in Palmyrene Archaeology and History 12). Turnhout: Brepols.
- Asaad, W. “A tribute to Prof. Maria Teresa Grassi’s legacy in Palmyra”, xvii
- Intagliata, E.E. “Preface”, xix
- Intagliata, E.E., Slavazzi, F. “Maria Teresa Grassi and her work”, 1–10
- Intagliata, E.E. “Setting the scene: the PAL.M.A.I.S. Syro-Italian joint project and the purpose of this book”, 11–20
- Intagliata, E.E., Bursich, D., Rossi, G., “The Southwest Quarter: an overview of the evidence and preliminary observations based on the results of the 2007 survey”, 21–46
- Bacchetta, A., Intagliata, E.E., “The Peristyle Building”, 47–90
- Bursich, D. “Exploring the invisible: circulation in the Peristyle Building”, 91–108
- Rossi, G. “The architectural elements of Palmyra: new data from the Southwest Quarter” 109–142
- Crisà, N. “Numismatic finds from the Southwest Quarter of Palmyra: a preliminary report”, 143–160
- Romagnolo, M. “Glass finds from the Peristyle Building”, 161–190
Romagnolo, M. 2024. “An Unguentarium with a Possible Glass Stopper from Palmyra, Syria”. Journal of Glass Studies 66, 221–226. https://doi.org/10.3998/jgs.6945
Intagliata, E. E., Bacchetta, A. 2024. “Late Antique and Early Islamic Palmyra in Perspective: The Potential and Limits of Incomplete Datasets”. In R. Raja (ed.). Palmyra in Perspective (Studies in Palmyrene Archaeology and History 11). Turhout: Brepols, 199–212.
Intagliata, E. E. 2023. ‘Tra luci e ombre: studiare Palmira tardo antica e islamica ieri e oggi’. In C. Ruta (ed.). Luci sul Medioevo. Età logica, età delle lingue d’Europa, età degli Studia Generalia. Convegno Internazionale di Studi (Laboratorio degli Annali di Storia. I paradigmi 2). Cosenza: Edizioni di Storia, 45–60.
Conferences and seminars
Emanuele E. Intagliata, ‘Surviving the crisis. Palmyra after the third century’. In The Third-Century Crisis revisited: Palmyra and the Roman Empire as lenses. Zooming in and Scaling up from the Evidence (The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, Copenhagen – 7–8/03/2024).
Emanuele E. Intagliata, ‘Tra Luci e Ombre: Palmira Tardo Antica e Islamica’. In Luci sul Medioevo: età logica, età delle lingue d’Europa, età degli Studia generalia (Laboratorio degli annali di storia, Ragusa – 11/03/2023).
Emanuele E. Intagliata, ‘The past, present, and future of post-Classical studies in Palmyra’, in Palmyra in perspective: reflections on a critical decade of scholarship (The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, Copenhagen – 08–09/12/2022).
Emanuele E. Intagliata, ‘Palmira dopo Zenobia: tra continuità e discontinuità, in ‘Le storie straordinarie di Palmira’ (Civico Museo Archeologico di Angera, Angera – 23/10/2022).