Research topics

The Italian Studies curriculum is designed to provide scholars with specialised training across a broad historical and methodological spectrum, encompassing a wide range of disciplinary developments. These include Romance philology, the history and interpretation of texts in medieval, modern and contemporary Italian literature, philology, linguistics and the history of the Italian language, educational linguistics, the study of the relationship between literature and publishing, the theory of literature and literary comparatistics. The course is designed to equip researchers with a dual expertise in linguistic and philological domains, complemented by a foundation in theoretical and literary knowledge. Graduates will possess the skills necessary to produce critical and annotated editions of texts, focusing on novels and Italian literature. Additionally, they will be well-versed in conducting innovative analyses that explore historical, literary, educational, linguistic, and thematic-cultural dimensions across diverse chronological contexts.

The Foreign Languages and Literatures curriculum focuses on the study of foreign languages and literatures (English, French, Spanish, German, Russian, Portuguese, Chinese) and their manifestations in the post-colonial sphere, when relevant. The promotion of original and innovative research within the Foreign Languages and Literatures subject area encourages in-depth study of the latest theoretical and methodological orientations in linguistic disciplines (translation, discourse analysis, corpus study, lexicography). It also fosters analysis of literary and cultural phenomena from the early modern period to the present day from theoretical and historical-critical perspectives.

The Classical Studies curriculum provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the field, with a focus on linguistics, philological and literary studies, archaeology, and the development of the Greco-Latin tradition in the medieval and humanistic periods. Students will be supported in producing a critical edition, commentary or essay on texts in Greek or Latin, or the edition of archaeological sources or contexts, reflecting the complete time span of their tradition and continuity.

The Historical Studies curriculum is designed to equip young scholars with the skills to analyse the past, from antiquity to the contemporary era, with a particular emphasis on the socio-economic, legal-institutional, political-religious and cultural dimensions of human communities. The curriculum encompasses the history of historiography, intellectual history, the history of political thought, historical geography and economic history.

The course promotes research and training paths based on the most recent theoretical-disciplinary orientations, which will enable students to deepen their ability to critically measure themselves with the sources, reconstruct the contexts and confront previous interpretations and traditions, so as to elaborate their own research investigating and restoring the complexity of the past.The acquisition of solid critical methodologies by PhD students also includes a fruitful dialogue with archival disciplines, the social sciences, and digital humanities.