Department of French and Italian

• History of culture (visual and literary)
• Migration studies
• Politics and culture in modern and contemporary Italy
• Pop music

Ragusa Foundation for the Humanities, President.

My current interests focus mostly on the conflict or difference between historical presentation and artistic representation of specific issues such as gender, violence, religion, war, migration, and exile in Italian and Italian American culture. My approach is transcultural and interdisciplinary, with a strong focus on visual culture (art and cinema). In analyzing these matters, I consider the historical and cultural contexts that generate or solicit certain works, as well as their aesthetic novelty and creative impact. I also work on the Italian literary tradition, and I have written on modern classics such as Ariosto, Foscolo, Manzoni, Pirandello, Saba, Montale, etc., as well as on contemporary authors (Pressburger, Claudio Magris, Jhumpa Lahiri, etc.). Together with my colleague Marco Arnaudo, I co-direct Simultanea. Journal of Italian Media and Pop Culture. At IU, I had the pleasure to serve as Dean of the Hutton Honors College (2014-23), the transcultural academic unit that serves the most talented undergraduate students. I also direct the departmental Overseas Studies Summer Program in Florence. Outside of IU, I am the President (pro-bono) of the Ragusa Foundation for the Humanities, which promotes the study and appreciation of Italian culture in New York, the US and internationally.

Books + Editions

• Musica Pop e testi in Italia dal 1960 a oggi. Eds. Andrea Ciccarelli et als. Ravenna: Longo, 2015.
• The Cambridge Companion to the Italian Novel. Eds. Peter Bondanella and Andrea Ciccarelli. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
• The People’s Voice: Essays on Romanticism. Eds. Andrea Ciccarelli et als. Melbourne: Monash Romance Studies, 1999, pp. 150.
• L’esilio come certezza. La ricerca d’identità culturale in Italia dalla Rivoluzione francese ai nostri giorni. Eds. Andrea Ciccarelli and Paolo Giordano. Italiana, vol. VII, 1998, pp. 307.
• Manzoni: la coscienza della letteratura. Rome: Bulzoni, “Strumenti di Ricerca”, 1996.

Articles

• “Media, cultura popolare e studi di intersezione in Italia(nistica),” in La valle dell’Eden, Journal of the Consulta Universitaria di Cinema, 2021.
• “Nota sulla follia d’Orlando in Ariosto,” in Italica 4 (2017): 665-685
• “Abroad and Beyond: Paolo Valesio and the Empty Nest,” in Discourse Boundary Creation, Italiana (2013): 72-86.
• “Crossing Borders: The Case of Fleur Jaeggy,’” in Esperienze letterarie 2 (2013): 37-53.
• “Crossing Borders: Claudio Magris and the Aesthetic of the Other Side,” in Journal of European Studies 4 (2012): 341-361.
• “Fra viaggio e stasi: considerazioni sul cinema italiano contemporaneo,” in Incontri cinematografici e culturali tra due mondi. Ed. Antonio Vitti, Pesaro: Metauro, 2012: 161-171.
• “L’italiano degli altri: brevi considerazioni dagli USA,” in L’Italiano degli altri. Firenze: Accademia della Crusca, 2011: 355-364.
• “I classici italiani dell’800 nel mondo di lingua inglese: ragioni di un’assenza,” in Studi (e testi) italiani (2009): 249-265.
• “Journey as Stasis: a Reading of Montale’s Early Poetics,” in Modern Language Notes 1 (2009): 213-235.
• “I ‘guai’ fra romanzo e storia: dal romanzo alla Colonna infame”, in Manzoni e il romanzo storico. Ed. Salvatore Bancheri. Toronto: Legas, 2009. 145-163.
• “Fra viaggio e stasi: riflessioni su Ungaretti e Montale,” Esperienze Letterarie 3 (2008): 23-51.
• “Fra (neo)realismo e sogno,” Ripensare il Neorealismo. Ed. A. Vitti. Pesaro: Metauro, 2008. 81-99.
• “Comico e tragico in Manzoni e Gadda,” Giornale storico della letteratura italiana, vol. CLXXXIV, fasc. 607 (2007): 329-367.
• “Fra libro e film: ‘Io non ho paura,’” Esperienze letterarie, 4 (2006).
• “Appunti su Manzoni e il sacro,” Giornale storico della letteratura italiana, vol. CLXXXII, fasc. 600 (2005).
• “Esilio, migrazione, frontiera nell’opera di Magris e Pressburger,” Intersezioni, 3 (2004).
• “Fuoricasa: scrittori italiani in America, oggi,” Esperienze letterarie, 1 (2003).
• “Dante and Italian Culture from the Risorgimento to World War I,” Dante Studies, vol. CXIX (2001-02).
• “Writing (from) Abroad: Italian Writing in the United States,” Italica, 2 (2001).
• “L’italianistica negli Stati Uniti: vent’anni di studi sul Sette-Ottocento,” Esperienze letterarie, 3-4 (2000): 247-261.

• Memes between Communication and Art, in cooperation with Lucia Casiraghi, a round table with Giulio Armeni (Filosofia coatta), Fabrizio Esposito (Alvar Aaltissimo) and Monica Magnani (Vaberagaa).
• Poetry, Memory, Politics, and Irony: A Conversation with Valerio Magrelli, with Valerio Magrelli.
• In Other Words/ In altre parole: Jhumpa Lahiri and Italian Culture, with Jhumpa Lahiri.
• Breaking The Code: Dante Beyond Commemorations, with Teodolinda Barolini, Columbia University.
• Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-2022): Before and Beyond the Centenary, with Pier Paolo Antonello, University of Cambridge.

Graduate

• Issues of (Re)presentations in Italian Literary and Visual Culture: War, Violence and Gender.
• Exile, Migration and Borders in Italian and Italian American Culture
• Italian Pop Music from 1968 to the Present Times
• 1968: Politics, Society and Artistic Movements in Italy after the “Spring” Revolution
• Politics and History in Italian Culture from the French Revolution to WWI

Undergraduate

• Exile: Politics, Gender, Migration, Art, and Culture Throughout the World
• The Political and Cultural Legacy of the Great War
• Renaissance Florence: Perspective as a Revolution
• The Myth of Rome in Western Culture: History, Art, Literature and Politics

• IU Bicentennial Medal for Service in the international field
• Editorial Board: Giornale Storico della Letteratura Italiana; Esperienze Letterarie; Italica
• Indiana University Outstanding Junior Faculty Fellowship
• Teaching Excellence Recognition Award from the IU Trustees
• Eric Maria Remarque Fellowship for European Studies
• Mellon Fellowship Grant