Claudia Rossignoli

Since joining the University of St Andrews, I have been expanding my expertise in the study of early modern culture. Alongside projects on Renaissance commentaries, on poetic and interpretative theories, I have been working on the dissemination of Reformation movements and ideas in sixteenth-century Italy, bringing to a field normally dominated by historical analysis critical questions regarding language, theology, transnational cultures and materiality. More recently, my enthusiasm for Dante and all things medieval made me turn my attention to contemporary forms of medievalism, examining the reception and transmediation of literary texts in commercial digital enterprises.

I have been a visiting Fellow of the HAB (Herzog August Bibliothek) in Wolfenbüttel, of St John’s College (University of Oxford), and a Senior Research Fellow of the PIASt – PAN (Polish Institute of Advanced Studies at the Polish Academy of Sciences) in Warsaw (2019-20). I serve on the editorial board of Dante Studies and, since January 2020, as Honorary Secretary of the Society for Italian Studies.

My research interests centre on Renaissance literature and culture, especially on the debates regarding the codification of linguistic and literary models in relation to the philosophical and epistemological transformations that characterised this period. Many of my current and future projects relate to these concerns, focusing on reception, interpretation, translation and on the relationship of competing systems of conceptualising human knowledge and language. My most recent work examines the circulation of religious books across sixteenth-century Europe and the mediating function of translation in the transfer of spiritual and doctrinal meanings across different cultural systems. I have also worked extensively on Dante and on his Comedy’s commentary tradition, and I have a keen interest in the reception of his works in modern and contemporary culture, particularly in digital media and games.

I teach undergraduate and postgraduate courses on Dante, Medieval Italian Literature and its reception, and the Italian Renaissance with particular emphasis on literary theory, issues of gender and transcultural exchange. I also teach courses on the history of the Italian Language, the history and literature of the Risorgimento, and on nineteenth-century authors, such as Foscolo and Leopardi. I supervise dissertations on a broad range of topics within Italian Studies, Comparative Literature and Medieval Studies, and I am  significantly involved in the teaching of Italian language, throughout our degree programme. 

• PhD in Italian Studies, University of Manchester, on "Aspects of the New Renaissance Aristotelianism: Theoretical Framework and Exegetical Practice in Castelvetro’s Commentary to Dante’s Inferno"
• Abilitazione all’insegnamento in Italian Language and Literature, History and Geography (Equivalent to English P.G.C.E.)
• M. A. in Medieval European Studies, University of Manchester, awarded with distinction, with a dissertation entitled "The Test of Authority: Castelvetro, Patrizi, and the Challenge to Aristotle"
• Laurea in Lettere Moderne (Italianistica), Università di Napoli “Federico II”, 110/110 magna cum laude (Prof. G. Fulco and Prof. C. Calenda)

Renaissance Literature and Philosophy, Exegesis and Hermeneutics, Dante and his Reception, Medievalism and Videogames