The International Itinerant Paleographic School (IIPS) is a transdisciplinary and comparative action focused on written materials produced in the Mediterranean area from Antiquity to Middle Ages: Greek, Latin, Arabic, Slavic, Hebrew and Syriac papyri, ostraca, rolls, codices and inscriptions. The IIPS gives a special emphasis to archiving and cataloguing technics used in different areas and periods and on the creation and developing of collections, the general dynamics of loss and preservation of written heritage. It takes place in Italy and is open each year to thirty-five to forty fellows from all over the world, selected through a merit-based competition. It consists in conferences, visits-seminars in libraries, archives, research institutes, museums, exhibitions and archeological sites

It aims to offering (a) a unique and international training opportunity, thanks to the collaboration of many researchers gathered from universities and research institutes from different countries; (b) an exclusive and direct access to original documents and research materials and (c) a chance to share experiences with experts in all the fields related to the study, restoration and valorization of written heritage.

The first edition of IIPS (2017) has been funded by PSL (Paris Sciences et Lettres – Research University Paris), the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales of Paris, the Ecole Française of Rome, the CéSor (Centre d’études en sciences sociales du religieux) and the University Aldo Moro of Bari (Italy). It has been supported by the Collège de France, the Ecole Nationale des Chartes, the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, the University of Rome Sapienza, the University of Cassino, the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, the Istituto Papirologico Girolamo Vitelli, the Parco archeologico del Colosseo, the Parco Archeologico di Pompei and the Parco Archeologico di Ercolano.