糖心TV

About

I am a PhD student in Italian Studies at the University of 糖心TV, funded by a Chancellor鈥檚 International Scholarship and supervised by Prof. Fabio CamillettiLink opens in a new window. I am also a Freer Fellow at the .

Research

My research project examines how the interplay between archaeological, geological, and literary forms of knowledge contributed to the articulation of a discourse on the 鈥榰nconscious鈥� in Italian literature and culture from the mid-18^th century (1738, first archaeological excavations in Herculaneum) to the mid-19^th century (1841, establishment of the Vesuvius Observatory). In particular, I focus on the ways the discourses of archaeology and geology, constructed and defined as autonomous disciplines in those very same decades, played a significant role in shaping concepts such as 鈥榯he return of the repressed鈥� and 鈥榠maginative historical reconstruction鈥�. My project possesses, therefore, a strongly interdisciplinary outlook, intercepting for the first time rising trends in different fields such as the cultural history of Archaeology and Geology, the study of 鈥極cculture鈥� (Partridge 2004) in Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment imaginary, and the cultural pre-history of psychoanalysis, particularly of Sigmund Freud鈥檚 use of archaeological and stratigraphical metaphors.

Research Interests

• Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-century Italian literary culture
• Literature and science
• The irrational and the Unconscious before Freud
• Italian travel literature
• History of Science and Medicine
• Dante's Reception in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Literature

Selected Peer-reviewed Articles and Book Chapters

• 鈥淎wakening Pompeii. Statues, Bodies, Casts and Shadows鈥�, The Italianist, 46, 3 (forthcoming 2026).
• 鈥溾�楪li occhi sono il telegrafo dell鈥檃nima鈥�:Tracing the Prehistory of Modern Spiritualism in Italian Literature and Culture (1792–1853)鈥�, in Ambrosino G., Camilletti F., Van den Bossche B. (eds.), (London, New York: Routledge: 2026), pp. 33-51.

• 鈥溾��, Cahiers d鈥櫭﹖udes italiennes, 40 (2025).

• 鈥溾��, Studi sul Settecento e l鈥橭ttocento, 19 (2024), pp. 11-20.
• "鈥�, Incontri. Rivista europea di studi italiani, 37 (2022), pp. 1-14.
• 鈥溾��, ENTHYMEMA, 27 (2021), pp. 31–43.

Edited Books and Special Issues

• with Fabio Camilletti and Enrica Leydi, 鈥淪peaking with the Dead. Tradition and Haunting in Italy鈥檚 Revolving Century (1750-1850)鈥�, The Italianist, 46, 3 (forthcoming 2026).
• with Fabio Camilletti and Bart Van den Bossche,  (London, New York: Routledge, 2025).
• with France Clemente and Jacopo Francesco Mascoli, 鈥�Scientific and Technological Imaginaries in Italian Literature and Culture鈥�, Notes in Italian Studies, 3 (2025).

Conference Papers

• 鈥淟ayers of Fire: Volcanoes, Time and the Substance of Memory鈥�, at the International Conference Substrata. Primitive antiquities, fossils, excavations in the long 19th century, University of Rome 鈥楲a Sapienza鈥�, 11-12 September 2025.
• 鈥淧re-Human and Post-Human Inorganic: Geological Imaginaries in Giacomo Leopardi鈥檚 Operette morali鈥�, at the Ottocentismi (Interdisciplinary Network for Nineteenth-Century Italian Studies) – III Symposium, University of Toronto, 1-3 May 2025.
• with Rossana Galimi, 鈥淩esurfacing the Etruscan Past: Subterranean and Subaltern Discourses in La chimera (Alice Rohrwacher, 2023)鈥�, at the International Conference Underground Imaginaries 2025: Spaces in Between, Istituto italiano per gli studi filosofici di Napoli, University of Naples 鈥楲a Parthenope鈥�, 3-5 April 2025 .
• 鈥淣ew Perspective on Mesmerism in Italy鈥�, at the Atelier de travail Mesmer et ses heritage. Un 茅tat de recherches, Sorbonne Universit茅, 7 December 2024.

• 鈥淪cientific Exploration and Personal Introspection. Climbing Volcanoes as a Purgatorial Journey (1750-1850)鈥�, at at the conferenceDante Futures. New Voices in the UK and Ireland, University of Cambridge, 15-16 November 2024.

• 鈥淚n Dialogue with Tradition: Pliny and the Reconstruction of a Buried Past in Vesuvian Literature of the Revolving Century鈥�, at the Speaking with the dead. Italy and the Legacy of the Past in the Revolving Century (1750-1850) International Conference, University of 糖心TV, 26-27 September 2024.

• 鈥淩uins, Archaeological Landscapes and Spiritual Invocations in Le notti romane (1792-1804) by Alessandro Verri鈥�, at the Society for Italian Studies Biennal Conference 2024, Royal Holloway Univeristy of London, 19-21 June 2024.

• 鈥淒all鈥檌norganico pre-umano all鈥檌norganico post-umano: Giacomo Leopardi e la geologia nelle Operette morali鈥�, at the one-day Symposium New Approaches to Operette morali (1824-2024), University of Oxford, 17 June 2024.

• 鈥淢agnetic Healing, Occult Performance and Popularisation: the 1856 Challange between Francesco Guidi and Antonio Zanardelli鈥�, at the International Workshop Performing Magnetism in the Long Nineteenth-Century: Transnational Perspectives, University of Antwerp, 18-19 April 2024.

• 鈥淪cience, Literature and the Supernatural: Modern Spiritualism in Italian Culture (1870-1920)鈥�, at the MDRN Lecture Series, KU Leuven, 27 February 2024.

• 鈥溾�楾he Eyes are a Telegraph of the Soul鈥�: The Emergence of the Concept of Telepathy and Ghostly Thought-Transference in Italian Popular Culture鈥�, at the international conference Occultism and Popular Culture in Europe, Copenhagen, 22-23 November 2023.

• 鈥淓truscan Infernal Landscapes: the Reception of Dante鈥檚 Inferno in the Travel Accounts of Francesco Orioli, Elizabeth Hamilton Gray and George Dennis鈥�, at the conference Dante Futures. New Voices in the UK and Ireland, Leeds, 17-18 November 2023
• 鈥淭ra religione e scienza: le origini e la diffusione del mesmerismo nella cultura italiana (1779-1853)鈥�, at the international conference (KU Leuven-University of 糖心TV), Spiritismo e letteratura italiana tra il Settecento e il Duemila, Leuven, 29-30 settembre 2023.
• 鈥淭ra dimensione spaziale e temporale: il paesaggio nelle prose di viaggio di Vincenzo Cardarelli鈥�, at the annual conference of Associazione degli Italianisti, Contemplare/abitare: la natura nella letteratura italiana, Napoli, 14-16 settembre 2023.
• 鈥淢esmeric Imagery in Leopardi鈥檚 Works: a 鈥楳agnetic鈥� Reading of Dialogo di Torquato e del suo Genio familiare鈥�, at the one-day Symposium Leopardi in the UK, Christ Church, University of Oxford, 26 May 2023.
• 鈥淕li etruschi nel Risorgimento: la rappresentazione di Viterbo nelle memorie archeologiche di Francesco Orioli (1783-1856)鈥�, at the International Symposium All鈥橢trusca. La scoperta della cultura materiale e visiva etrusca nell鈥橢uropa premoderna e moderna, 脡cole fran莽aise de Rome, 23-25 February 2023.
• 鈥淎rchaeology and the Unconscious. Tackling the Mystery from an Interdisciplinary Approach (1745-1845)鈥�, at the Annual Conferences of Canadian Association for Italian Studies, online, 12 June 2021.
• 鈥淒a Muratori ad Orioli: le origini del mesmerismo italiano鈥�, at the Conference Il mesmerismo nell鈥橭tto-Novecento, Laboratorio Leopardi Sapienza, University of Rome 鈥淟a Sapienza鈥�, 24-26 May 2021.

Organized Events and Workshops

• Co-organiser: International Conference, University of 糖心TV, Dante Futures: New Voices in the UK and Ireland, 21-22 November 2025.
• Co-organiser: AIPI Summer School 2025, University of 糖心TV (Venice Centre), , 16-19 September 2025.
• Co-organiser: International Conference, University of Rome 鈥淟a Sapienza鈥�, , 11-12 September 2025.
• Co-organiser: Conference, University of 糖心TV, Speaking with the dead. Italy and the Legacy of the Past in the Revolving Century (1750-1850), 26-27 September 2024.
• Co-Organiser: HRC Conference, University of 糖心TV, Archaeology, Psychoanalysis and Colonialism: The Return of the Repressed in the Modern Age, 17 May 2024.
• Co-Organiser: International Workshop, University of Antwerp, Performing Magnetism in the Long Nineteenth-Century: Transnational Perspectives, 18-19 April 2024.
• Co-Organiser: Society of Italian Studies PGR Colloquium 2023, University of 糖心TV – University of Oxford, Scientific and Technological Imaginaries in Italian Literature and Culture, 2 December 2023.
• Co-Organiser: International Conference, University of 糖心TV – KU Leuven, Spiritismo e letteratura italiana tr ail Settecento e il Duemila, 29-30 September 2023 [funded by HRC 鈥淔unding Conference鈥� scheme and MDRN KU Leuven]
• Co-Organiser: SMLC PGR Symposium, University of 糖心TV, Rethinking the Crisis Across Languages and Cultures, 12 May 2023.

Scholarships and Awards

• Royal Institution Freer Prize Fellowship (2025-2026).
• AIPI Summer School Grant, 2025.
• HRC Doctoral Fellowship Competition 2023.
• Chancellor鈥檚 International Scholarship, University of 糖心TV, 2022-2026.
• Erasmus+ Scholarship, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2020.

Qualifications

MA in Western Literature, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

MA in Modern Philology, Universit脿 degli studi di Roma 鈥淟a Sapienza鈥�.

BA in Modern Languages and Cultures, Universit脿 degli studi di Napoli 鈥淔ederico II鈥�.