July 2012: PhD in Art History, Università della Tuscia, Viterbo

Dissertation: Avori ‘arabo-siculi nel Mediterraneo Medievale

Grade: ‘Excellent’. Mention for publication. 

May 2007: M. A. Degree in Preservation of Cultural Heritage,Università della Tuscia, ViterboDissertation:

Ugo Monneret de Villard e gli studi di arte islamica in Italia.

Grade: 110/110 magna cum laude

RESEARCH INTERESTS

- Islamic and Christian art of the medieval Mediterranean

- Ivory craftsmanship in the medieval Mediterranean

- Historiography of Islamic art (19th-20th centuries) 

CURRENT ACTIVITIES

- Collaboration in the project Die Elfenbeinkämme des Früh- und Hochmittelalters, hosted by LudwigMaximilians-Universität München, Department Kunstwissenschaften.

- Organisation of the conference Islamic Art and Architecture in Italy: Between Tradition and Innovation, in

collaboration with the American Academy in Rome (May 17th-18th 2018).

- Collaboration in the project The Medieval Treasury across Frontiers and Generations: The Kingdom of LeónCastilla in the Context of Muslim-Christian Interchange, c. 1050-1200, led by Therese Martin (CSIC, Madrid)

and funded by the Spanish National Excellence in Research Grant of Ministry of Economy and Competitivity. 

PRIZES, FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS (selected) 

- January - June 2017: Italian Fellowship in the Humanities, American Academy in Rome, for a book project on the art historian and archaeologist of the medieval Mediterranean, Ugo Monneret de Villard.

- September 2014- August 2015: Hanns Swarzenski and Brigitte Horney Swarzenski Fellowship, Metropolitan Museum of Art, for a project on South-Italian ivories, 11-13th century.

- March 2013: Prix Marc de Montalembert, INHA (Paris) and Fondation Marc de Montalembert to work on the art historian and archaeologist of the medieval Mediterranean Ugo Monneret de Villard.

- June 2011: Travel grant for the international workshop “Ivory Analysis Combined: Art History and Natural Science”, Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies (Washington DC).

- February 2011: Margaret B. Ševčenko Prize for Best Article on Islamic Art (College Art Association, Historians of Islamic Art Association).

- 2007 – 2010: PhD Student Research Fellowship (Università della Tuscia Viterbo).

- November 2007- October 2008: 12-month fellowship Fondazione per l’Arte della Compagnia di San Paolo to work on Monneret de Villard at INHA, Paris. 

PUBLICATIONS

1. “The role and perception of Islamic art and history in the construction of a shared identity in Sicily (c.1780- 1900)”, Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome (2017) [in press].

2. “Caskets inside out: revisiting the classification of the 'Siculo-Arabic' ivories”, Journal of Transcultural Medieval Studies 4/1-2 (2017) 51-145.

3. “Fatimid ivories in Ifriqiya: The Madrid and Mantua Caskets between Construction and Decoration”, Journal of Islamic Archaeology, 2.2 (2015) 195-228.

4. “Avori arabo-siculi: cassette, pissidi, olifanti. Un taccuino inedito di Ugo Monneret de Villard”, L’officina dello sguardo. Scritti in onore di Maria Andaloro, Roma, Gangemi 2015: 265-270.

5. Review of C. Hourihane, ed., From Minor to Major, Princeton 2012, Speculum 89 (2014): 780-782.

6. “Ugo Monneret de Villard (1881-1954) and the Establishment of Islamic Art Studies in Italy”, Muqarnas 30 (2013) 35-71 [awarded Ševčenko Prize 2011].

7. “Ugo Monneret de Villard et la découverte de l’Oriente entre Croce et Strzygowski”, in M. Volait et al. (eds.), Le Caire dessiné et photographié au XIXe siècle, Paris, Picard, 2013: 361-392.

8. Catalogue entries: “Manifattura arabo-sicula. Cofanetto inv. n. 2492”; “Manifattura arabo-sicula. Cofanetto inv. n. 41”; “Manifattura arabo-sicula. Cofanetto inv. n. 42”, in M. Collareta and D. Primerano(eds.), Un vescovo, la sua cattedrale, il suo tesoro. La committenza artistica di Federico Vanga (1207-1218), Trento 2012, cat. no. 20: 184-186; cat. no. 21: 188-191; and cat. no. 22: 192-194.

9. “La cassetta incrostata della Cappella Palatina di Palermo. Memoria e materia”, in C. Bordino and R. Di Noia (eds.), La Ricerca Giovane in cammino per l’arte, Università degli Studi della Tuscia, Facoltà di Conservazione dei Beni Culturali, Gangemi, Roma, 2012: 94-110.

10. Entry “Monneret de Villard, Ugo”, in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Roma, Treccani, 2011, vol. 75.

11.“Gli avori ‘amalfitani/salernitani’ e il Mediterraneo medievale” report on the International Workshop (Amalfi, December 2009), in Rassegna Storica Salernitana, 56 (2011): 229-245.

12. “Avori ‘arabo-siculi’ nel Tesoro della Cappella Palatina di Palermo. La tecnica, la classificazione, le botteghe”, in: Carlo A. Quintavalle (ed.), Medioevo: le officine, XII Convegno Internazionale di Studi, 22-27 settembre 2009, Milano, Electa, 2010: 169-178.