Institute
The Italian Dictionary (OVI-Opera del Vocabolario Italiano) is an Institute of the CNR with the institutional task of compiling an historical dictionary of the Italian language. The Institute is located at the Accademia della Crusca in Florence.
At present the researchers of the OVI are working on the first section of this dictionary, called Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (TLIO), i.e. "Thesaurus of the oldest Italian language".
Main activities are:
1) the compilation of the TLIO, which on August 2023 exceeded the 43,300 online entries;
2) the development, necessary for the dictionary work, of the database of Old Italian texts. This database (almost 30 million of occurrences) is also an independent linguistical research tool and is searchable online;
3) the development of software for lexicographical and linguistical purposes, in particular for the management of textual corpora similar to the one upon which the TLIO is based.
The institute publishes a yearly "Bulletin", and Supplementary series, with indices and a selection of TLIO entries, editions of early Italian texts, articles on lexicography and computer science applied to lexicography.
The OVI is a founding member of the EFNIL (European Federation of National Language Institutions) and
coordinates the activities of the Italian node (DARIAH-IT) of the European Research Infrastructure Consortium
DARIAH-ERIC (Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities)
.
IIt has collaborative relationships with Italian and foreign universities, colleges, research centers, public and private bodies, and publishing houses for research and training activities on Italian language and texts.
In 1965, the Accademia della Crusca launched the project of a new historical dictionary of Italian, funded by the the Italian National Research Council (CNR), and to that end it created an organization named Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, which was directed by Aldo Duro until 1972, by Giovanni Nencioni until 1974, and by d’Arco Silvio Avalle from 1974 onwards.
Through the Italian law no. 6, of 06/01/1983, the OVI staff was absorbed by the CNR. By virtue of the same law, and in agreement with the Accademia della Crusca, in 1985 the CNR Center for the Study of the Opera del Vocabolario Italiano was established with Carlo Alberto Mastrelli as director. Mastrelli served in that role until 1992 when he was succeeded by Pietro G. Beltrami.
As part of the internal reorganization of the CNR scientific network, in 2001 the OVI became a CNR institute, within the Department of Social and Human Sciences - Cultural Heritage (DSU). The direction of Pietro G. Beltrami continued until September 2013, after which Paolo Squillacioti took over as acting director until September 2014.
From October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2018, the OVI was directed by Lino Leonardi; at the end of hismandate, Paolo Squillacioti took over again as acting director. On July 1st, 2020 Paolo Squillacioti became the new OVI director.
From March 2020, OVI has activated a Temporary Research Unit (URT) at the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa to carry out the research project Testi e manoscritti dell’italiano antico: dal corpus a un modello di filologia digitale.