Curriculum

Curriculum

I was born in Bari (IT) on May 18th 1967; I graduated from school (Liceo classico Socrate) in 1985 with grade 60/60. In the same town I started attending University in 1985 and in 1990 I reached a degree in “Lettere e Filosofia” writing a dissertation in Medieval History and obtaining grade 110/110 cum laude.
In 1990 I passed the exams which allowed me to get grants for two different PhDs (“Dottorati di ricerca”): “Storia economica, sociale e religiosa dell’Europa” at the University of Bari, for a period of three years, and “Storia medievale” at the University of Florence, for a period of four years; I chose the latter and started the course in Florence at the beginning of 1991. The subject of my research was “Magia e stregoneria negli scritti dell’Osservanza francescana (XV secolo)” (Magic and witchcraft in the writings of the Franciscan Observance - XV century).
On September 1991 I attended the Summer school of the "Centre d'études supérieurs de civilisation médiévale" in Poitiers (FR).
In January 1994 I started a four months staying as visiting scholar in the Department of History of Brown University (Providence, Rhode Island - USA), where I attended seminars and gave a lecture about my PhD research under the direction of professor Anthony Molho.
In 1995 I ended writing my dissertation which I discussed on January 19th 1996 receiving my PhD degree in Storia medievale at the University of Florence. The results of the dissertation were later published in the volume Supra acqua et supra ad vento. "Superstizioni, maleficia e incantamenta nei predicatori francescani osservanti (Italia, sec. XV). p. XX + 1-224, Roma:Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo, 1999.
Between April and May 1995 I was invited by prof. Luigi De Anna of the Department of Italian Language and Culture of the University of Turku (Finland) to give lectures to their students on the subject of “Learned culture and popular culture in the Italian Renaissance”.
In 1996 I obtained a fellowship from the Accademia della Crusca (Florence) to keep on my research, particularly on the subject of “Il lessico delle credenze e tradizioni magico-stregoniche nel volgare toscano due-quattrocentesco” (The lexicon of beliefs and traditions related to magic and witchcraft in the Tuscan Vulgar of XIII - XIV century). It helped me writing “Fantasima, fantasima che nella notte vai”. La cultura magica nelle novelle toscane del Trecento. p. 1-256, Roma:Citta' Nuova, 2000.
Between the years 1999 and 2000 I obtained a fellowship from Villa I Tatti (Harvard University –Berenson Foundation, Firenze).
While at I Tatti, I also received a grant of 5000 USD from the Lila Wallace - Reader’s Digest Publications Subsidy intended as a help for research and publishing.
In the Academic Year 2000 I started a career as Researcher at the University of Genoa, where – during the following years - I taught courses of “Istituzioni medievali, Storia della Storiografia medievale, Generi storiografici, Storia medievale” for the “Corso di Laurea in Storia” at the Faculty of “Lettere e Filosofia”.
In Genoa, I was also given the assignment - by the same “Corso di Laurea” - to check the Italian students’ prerequisites of English language (as requested by the Law 509).
During the Academic Year 2001-2002 I received a Grant of 10ml of Italian Lire (around 5000 Euros) as a financial aid reserved to young researchers, for a project about the Late Medieval Magic through written and iconic sources.
Also, starting in 2000 and until now, I have been involved in schools and classes aimed to prepare future high school teachers of History – mainly as a coordinator for the “Didattica e laboratorio di storia” at the SSIS(Scuola di specializzazione all’insegnamento secondario) in Genova; also I gave lectures open to high grade students and their teachers in the Liceo cantonale di Bellinzona (CH). Those experiences as a teacher drove me to write (with Franco Cardini) a guide to the study of Medieval History (Storia medievale, Firenze: Le Monnier, 2006).
I have been entitled as “Responsabile Scientifico” for a research unity in Genoa for the PRIN (progetti di ricerca di interesse nazionale) 2007-2009 on the subject “Relazioni mercantili, diplomatiche e culturali tra Mediterraneo occidentale e Oriente” (Commercial, diplomatic and cultural relationships between the Western Mediterranean and the East). The researching project was a cooperation with other Italian Universities and professors: Alberzoni Maria Pia (Cattolica del Sacro Cuore) Benvenuti Anna (Firenze) Cardini Franco (SUM - Ist. Italiano di Scienze Umane Firenze) Rigon Antonio (Padova). My unity received 31.000 Euros for researching and publishing.
Since 2009-2010 I have been working part time as Professor of Medieval History at the Faculty of Philosophy at the Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele in Milan.
In 2010 I was nominated Associate Professor at the University of Messina and since 30th March 2011 I started teaching there “Storia medievale” and “Storia del Mediterraneo medievale”.
In 2015 I was nominated full professor at the University of Messina.
In the same year I was appointed as a member of the Collegio docenti del Dottorato di ricerca (permanent academic staff for a Phd) in "Storia delle forme culturali euromediterranee: studi storici, geografici, religiosi, linguistici e letterari" (Messina).
I received the prize Anassilaos in 2017.
In 2018 I was appointed a member of the scientific committe of the International Society for Cultural Studies.
I currently write reviews and articles of historical interest for the Italian newspaper Il Manifesto and  I also write on the magazine Storica of National Geographic.
Research interests: magic, folk culture, witchcraft, medieval and modern travelers, cross-dressing, cultural history.

List of main publications (books)

1. Vita di Barbato, Parma, Pratiche (Biblioteca medievale), 1994 (rist. Luni, Milano).
2. La cristianizzazione dell'Italia nel Medioevo, prefazione di A. Paravicini Bagliani, Roma- Bari, Laterza (Il Quadrante), 1997.
3. Il Santo Graal (con Franco Cardini e Massimo Introvigne), Firenze. Giunti, 1998, n.ed. 2006 (capitoli II-VI, la Bibliografia e l'Appendice “Il Graal al cinema”).
4. “Supra acqua et supra ad vento”. Superstizioni, maleficia e incantamenta nei predicatori francescani osservanti (Italia, sec. XV), Roma, Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo (Nuovi Studi Storici - 46), 1999.
5. “Fantasima, fantasima che nella notte vai”. La cultura magica nelle novelle toscane del
Trecento, prefazione di G. Airaldi, Roma, Città Nuova (I volti della storia), 2000.
6. Memorie Genovesi. Caffaro, “Storia della presa di Almeria e Tortosa, Genova, Fratelli
Frilli editore, 2002.
7. “…Sacro alle nursine grotte”. Storie di fate, cavalieri, ‘negromanti’ nei Monti Sibillini, Ascoli Piceno, Istituto superiore di studi medievali “Cecco d’Ascoli”, 2003.
8. La lunga storia dell'Inquisizione (con Franco Cardini), Roma, Città Nuova, 2005.
9. Storia medievale (con Franco Cardini), Firenze, Le Monnier Università, 2006.
10. Da Figline a Gerusalemme. Viaggio del prete Michele in Egitto e in Terrasanta (1489-90), (studio e edizione critica del ms Riccardiano 1923) Roma, Viella, 2010.
11. Amerigo Vespucci (con Franco Cardini) p. 1-240, Firenze, Le Lettere, 2012
12. Caccia alle streghe, Roma, Salerno, 2012.
13. Marco Polo, Roma, Salerno, 2014.
14. "Arte gradita agli déi immortali". La magia fra mondo antico e Rinascimento, (con Franco
Cardini), Torino, Yume, 2015
15. Clssical Culture and Witchcraft in Medieval and Renaissance Italy, London, Palgrave/MacMIllan, 2018.