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French and Italian

Elsa Filosa

Elsa Filosa

Assistant Professor of the Practice in Italian

Affiliated Faculty of Classical and Mediterranean Studies

elsa.filosa@vanderbilt.edu

Office: Furman 228

Elsa Filosa – CV (Fall 2022)

 

 

 

Education

Laurea in Lettere, orientamento filologico-letterario, Università degli Studi di Milano, 2000
Ph.D. in Romance Languages, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2005

Research interests

Fourteenth century Italian literature and culture, with particular emphasis on Giovanni Boccaccio
Medieval and Early Modern Reception of Classical authors
Friendship and Reciprocal Influences between Petrarch and Boccaccio
Italian Novella from Origin to Renaissance
Medieval Representation of Women and Women’s Studies
Interdisciplinary Approach with History and Visual Culture
Paleography, Codicology, and Diplomatics
Narrative episodes in Renaissance paintings

Fellowships and Awards

– 2023-24 Distinguished Faculty Award – Ingram Center – For students athlete success.

– 2023 RAMP Awards, for researching The Magistrate of Pupils before the Medici fund at the State Archive in Florence.

– 2022 NTT Course Development Summer Salary Grant – by Vanderbilt University.

– 2021 COVID Teaching Award by Vanderbilt University.

– 2020 Réseau National de Maison de Sciences de l’Homme for the project “BOccace Numérique HUManiste” as part of an international team of scholars.

– 2019 Global Research & Engagement Micro-Grant awarded by Vanderbilt University for co-sponsoring a Conference on Nicola Acciaiuoli at the Certosa in Florence.

– 2017 Mellon Summer Institute in Italian Paleography at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles.

– 2015-2016 Villa I Tatti Fellowship, awarded by The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies in Florence.

– 2015 Research Scholar Grant Program, awarded by Vanderbilt University.

– 2014-2015 Southeastern Conference Visiting Faculty Travel Grant Program.

– Award by the American Boccaccio Association in recognition for outstanding service. Amherst, MA – May 1st, 2010.

– Dana B. Drake Teaching Award, 2004. Awarded by the Dept. of Romance Languages and Literatures of the UNC at Chapel Hill in recognition of excellence in undergraduate teaching.

– Graduate Dissertation Completion Research Fellowship, 2004-2005. Awarded by the Graduate School of the UNC at Chapel Hill.

Representative publications

Book

DMC FILOSA -copertina

Tre Studi sul De mulieribus claris. Milan: Edizioni Universitarie LED, 2012.

Reviewed by:Igor Candido, in Studi sul Boccaccio 41 (2013): 403-08; Federica Scarlata, in La Rassegna della Letteratura Italiana 117.2 (2013): 529-30; Eugenio Giusti, in The Medieval Review 14.03.27 (2014); Armando Bisanti, in Mediaeval Sophia 15-16 (2014): 233-37; Irene Zanini-Cordi, in Speculum 91.4 (2016): 1107-1109; Sienna Hopkins, in Italica 94.1 (2017): 177-179.

 

 

Boccaccio’s Florence: Politics and People in his Life and Works. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2022.

– Winner of The Flaiano Award of Literature 2023: “Luca Attanasio” International Prize for Italian Studies.

– Winner of the 2023 AATI Book Award in the category of Literary, Critical Theory, and Cultural Studies Award.

– Honorable mention for the MLA’s Scaglione Prize for Italian Studies 2023.

 

Edited Books

Filosa USA

Editor, with Michael Papio, of Boccaccio in America. Proceedings of the 2010 International Boccaccio Conference at The University of Massachusetts Amherst. Ravenna: Longo, 2012.

Reviewed by: Janet Smarr, in The Medieval Review 12.12.11 (2012); Brandon Essary, in Renaissance Quarterly 66 (2013): 327-29; Francesco Paolo Botti, in Studi sul Boccaccio 41 (2013): 400-03; Christopher Nissen, in Italica 90.4 (2013): 679-81; Madison U. Sowell, in Annali d’Italianistica 31 (2013): 610-13.

 

Untitled 2

Editor, with Francesco Ciabattoni and Kristina Olson, of Boccaccio 1313-2013. Ravenna: Longo, 2015.

Reviewed by: Florence Bistagne, in Medieval Review 16.12.02 (2016); K. P. Clarke, in Studi sul Boccaccio 44 (2016); Alison Cornish, in Renaissance Quarterly 70.1 (2017): 372-73; Roberto Nicosia, in Italian Culture 35.1 (2017): 53-54; Annachiara Monaco, Annali d’Italianistica 35 (2017): 541-43; Todd Boli, Speculum 94.2 (2019): 515-17.

 

Editor, with Alessandro Andreini, Susanna Barsella, Jason Houston, Sergio Tognetti, of Niccolò Acciaiuoli, Boccaccio e la Certosa del Galluzzo: Politica, religione ed economia nell’Italia del Trecento. Roma: Viella, 2020.

https://www.viella.it/libro/9788833134468

Reviewed by: Sylvie Duval, in Studi sul Boccaccio 49 (2021): 488-491; Fabrizio Ricciardelli, in Rivista di letteratura e storiografica italiana 5 (2021): 163-65; Richard Maxwell, in Heliotropia 18 (2021); Michael Sherberg, in Annali d’Italianistica 40 (2022): 434-436.

 

 

 Articles & Book Chapters

  1. “Prima diffusione delle opere di Giovanni Boccaccio a Firenze: nuove acquisizioni dal Magistrato dei Pupilli Avanti il Principato (1384 -1439).” In collaboration with Lorenzo Vigotti. Studi sul Boccaccio 50 (2022): 333-361.
  2. “Gli uffici pubblici di Boccaccio (1348-1355).” Rivista di letteratura tardogotica e quattrocentesca IV (2022): 65-82.
  3. “Decameron II 8: Gli Angioini tra genealogia e intertestualità.” Letteratura italiana antica 23 (2022): 177-92.
  4. “Lapa Acciaiuoli: A Business Woman.” In Women Agency and Self-fashioning in Early modern Tuscany (1300-1600). Eds. Simona Lorenzini and Deborah Pellegrini. Rome: Viella, 2022. 95-122.
  5. “Il contesto storico e politico della Consolatoria a Pino de’ Rossi.” Échanges épistolaires autour de Pétrarque et Boccace. Ed. by Sabrina Ferrara. Paris: Champion, 2021. 307-328.
  6. “Following Virgil’s lantern: Teaching Dante in the light of Antiquity.” Approaches to teaching Dante’s Divine Comedy, second edition. Eds.Christopher Kleinhenz and Kristina Olson. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2020. 67-72.
  7. “Novellette nelle cronache del Trecento: indagine sulla genesi del termine ‘novella’.” Arnovit 4 (2019): 2-14.
  8. “Life is a Relational Experience: Teaching Choosing Civility.” Modern Language Notes 134 (2019): 358-371.
  9. “History of Virginia: Livy, Boccaccio, and Botticelli.” Botticelli: Heroines and Heroes. Ed. Nathaniel Silver. London, UK: Paul Holberton Publishing, 2019. 78-93.
  10. “Storia di Virginia: ispirazione letteraria tra Livio e Boccaccio.” Le storie di Lucrezia e Virginia tra Boston e Bergamo. Eds. Maria Cristina Rodeschini and Patrizia Zambrano. Bergamo: Officina libraria, 2018. 40-51.
  11. “Messer Pino di messer Giovanni de’ Rossi.” Heliotropia 15 (2018): 161-187.
  12. “Pino de’ Rossi.” Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani. Roma: Treccani, 2017. Vol. 88. 713-715.
  13. “La condanna di Niccolò di Bartolo del Buono, Pino de’ Rossi, e gli altri congiurati del 1360 (ASFi, Atti del Podestà 1525, 57r-58r).” Studi sul Boccaccio 44 (2016): 235-250.
  14. “Scylleum mare: Una nota su Igino e Isidoro nel De montibus di Giovanni Boccaccio.” Romance Notes 56.2 (2016): 345-52.
  15. “Scilla e le tre corone.” Écritures, “Entre Charybde et Scylla. Art, mythes et société au pays des monstres oubliés”, sous la direction de Christine et Stéphane Resche, n° 8, CRIX, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre la Défense, Nanterre, Presses de Paris Ouest, 2016, p. 151-167.
  16. “Motivi anti-tirannide e repubblicani nel De mulieribus claris.” Heliotropia 12-13 (2015-16): 165-187.
  17. “L’amicizia ai tempi della congiura (Firenze 1960-61): A confortatore non duole capo.” Studi sul Boccaccio 42 (2014): 195-220.
  18. “Nota bio-bibliografica in memoria di Giuseppe Velli.” Heliotropia 11 (2014): 141-52.
  19. “The Tale of King Agilulf and his Groom (Dec. III.2).” The Decameron: Third Day in Perspective. Lectura Boccaccii. Eds. Pier Massimo Forni and Francesco Ciabattoni. Toronto: Toronto University Press, 2014. 22-43.
  20. “To Praise Dante, to Please Petrarch: Il Trattatello in Laude di Dante.” Boccaccio: A Critical Guide to the Complete Works. Eds. Victoria Kirkham, Michael Sherberg and Janet Smarr. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2013. 213-20.
  21. “Decameron 7: Under the sign of Venus.” Annali d’Italianistica 31 (2013). 315-53.
  22. “Breve storia dell’American Boccaccio Association.” Boccaccio in America. Proceedings of the 2010 International Boccaccio Conference at The University of Massachusetts Amherst. Ravenna: Longo, 2012. 21-27.
  23. “Modalità di contatto tra Decameron e Corbaccio: Giovenale nella novella di Monna Sismonda (Dec. VII 8).” Modern Language Notes 122.1 (2007): 123-32.
  24. “Boccaccio tra storia e invenzione: Dal De fide uxorum erga viros di Valerio Massimo al De mulieribus claris.” Romance Quarterly 54.3 (2007): 219-30.
  25. “Intertestualità tra Decameron e De mulieribus claris: La tragica storia di Tisbe e Piramo.” Heliotropia 3.1-2 (2005-06).
  26. “Secretum e Corbaccio: Possibili interferenze?” Atti del Convegno ‘Petrarca e la Lombardia.’ Milano, 22-23 Maggio 2003. Ed. Giuseppe Frasso, Giuseppe Velli and Maurizio Vitale. Milano: Istituto Lombardo di Scienze e Lettere, 2005. 211-19.
  27. “Il mondo alla rovescia nella ‘valle delle donne’: eros muliebre e trasgressione sociale nel Decameron.” La Fusta 13 (2004-05): 9-18.
  28. “Dante, Alberto Magno e le pietre preziose: una nota su ambra e alabastro.” Dante Studies 122 (2004): 173-80.
  29. “Petrarca, Boccaccio e le mulieres clarae: dalla Familiare XXI 8 al De mulieribus claris.” Annali d’Italianistica 22 (2004): 381-95.
  30. “Ancora su Seneca (e Giovenale) nel Decameron.” Giornale Storico della Letteratura Italiana 175 (1998): 210-219.

Bibliographies

    • “American Boccaccio Bibliography for 2018-19.” In collaboration with Christopher Kleinhenz. Heliotropia 16-17 (2019-20): 259-273.
    • “American Boccaccio Bibliography for 2017-18.” In collaboration with Christopher Kleinhenz. Heliotropia 15 (2018): 281-291.
    • “American Boccaccio Bibliography for 2015-16.” In collaboration with Christopher Kleinhenz. Heliotropia 14 (2017): 361-375.
    • “Rassegna critica dell’anno boccacciano 2013.” In collaboration with Christopher Kleinhenz. Arnovit 1 (2016): 266-88.
    • “American Boccaccio Bibliography for 2014.” In collaboration with Christopher Kleinhenz. Heliotropia 12-13 (2015-16): 331-37.
    • “American Boccaccio Bibliography for 2013.” In collaboration with Christopher Kleinhenz. Heliotropia 11 (2014): 153-61.
    • “American Boccaccio Bibliography for 2011-2012.” In collaboration with Christopher Kleinhenz. Heliotropia 8-9 (2012): 135-47.
    • “American Boccaccio Bibliography for 2010.” In collaboration with Christopher Kleinhenz. Heliotropia 7 (2010): 183-90.
    • “American Boccaccio Bibliography for 2009.” In collaboration with Christopher Kleinhenz. Heliotropia 7 (2010): 177-81.
    • “American Boccaccio Bibliography for 2005-2008.”  In collaboration with Christopher Kleinhenz. Heliotropia 6 (2009): 81-96.

Book Reviews

  • Veglia, Marco (Ed). Decameron. Milan: Feltrinelli, 2020. Reviewed in Studi sul Boccaccio 49 (2021): 463-65.
  • Caferro, William. Petrarch’s War: Florence and the Black Death in Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Reviewed in Studi sul Boccaccio 48 (2020): 364-368.
  • Giuseppe Chiecchi, Nell’arte narrativa di Giovanni Boccaccio. Florence: Olschki, 2016. Reviewed in, Studi sul Boccaccio 45 (2017): 347-78.
  • Boccaccio, Giovanni, Teseida delle Nozze d’Emilia. Critical Edition by Edvige Agostinelli and William Coleman. Firenze: Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2015. Heliotropia 12-13 (2015-16): 361-64.
  • Fiorilla, Maurizio. Marginalia figurati nei codici di Petrarca. Firenze: Olschki, 2005. Annali d’Italianistica 24 (2006): 377-78.
  • Marchesi, Simone. Stratigrafie decameroniane. Firenze: Olschki, 2004. Annali d’Italianistica 23 (2005): 266-68.

Invited Lectures

  • “La corrispondenza femminile di Lapa Acciaiuoli.” Invited Speaker. MeWIL: Medieval Women in Letters, at the Università di Siena. Siena, Italy: November 22-24, 2023.
  • “La lite sulle Esposizioni sopra la Commedia: Jacopo di Boccaccio da Certaldo contro Fra Martino da Signa.” Invited Speaker. Das Spätwerk Boccaccios: Le Esposizioni sopra la Comedia, at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. Göttingen, Germany: October 18-20, 2023.
  • “Esposizioni 9.” Invited speaker. Lecturae Dantis Boccaccii: Lectures des Esposizioni sopra la Comedia di Dante, at the Centre d’Études Supérieures de la Renaissance (CESR). Tours, France: June 5-6, 2023.
  •  Book Presentation: Boccaccio’s Florence at Sapienza, University of Rome, Italy. May 29, 2023.
  • “Le Tre Corone: testi e contesti dell’Italia medioevale.” Book presentation: Boccaccio’s Florence at  Notre Dame University in Rome, Italy. May 24, 2023.
  • For the American Boccaccio Association Book Launch Series: Boccaccio’s Florence: Politics and People in His Life and Work. A conversation with William Caferro and Simone Marchesi, and the ABA officers. May 4th, 2023.
  • “Les Remedes d’Amour di Jacques d’Amiens in Decameron II 8.” Invited Speaker. Paleopatologia della novella dal Medioevo al XVII secolo. Università degli Studi dell’Aquila, Italy. November 9-10, 2022.
  • “De Eva parente prima.” Invited Speaker. L’humanisme de Boccace à l’épreuve des Humanités Numériques, at the Centre d’Études Supérieures de la Renaissance (CESR). Tours, France: May 23-25, 2022.
  • “The Importance of Coins: Messer Torello’s Story by the Master of Charles of Durazzo.” Invited Speaker. Cultures of Exchange: Mercantile Mentalities between Italy and the World, at the Center of Medieval Studies of Fordham University. New York, NY. March 26-27, 2022.
  • “Lapa Acciaiuoli: A Chief Executive Officer.” Invited Speaker. Women’s Agency and Self-Fashioning in Early Modern Tuscany (1300-1600). Virtual Conference organized by Yale University & Kent State University. April 23, 2021.
  • “’Novellette da ridere’ by Chroniclers of 1300s’.” Invited Speaker. The Comic Renaissance in Italy at The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. February 28-29, 2020.
  • “History and Politics in the Consolatory Letter to Pino de’ Rossi.” Invited speaker. Échanges épistolaires autour de Pétrarque et Boccace at the Centre d’Études Supérieures de la Renaissance (CESR). Tours, France: June 6-7, 2019.
  • “Round-table on Readership.” Invited speaker. “Readership and authorship” at the International Seminar on Critical Approaches to Dante: A series of annual workshops at the University of Toronto. Toronto: March 28, 2018
  • “A Letter on Consolation: Politics and Innocence.” Invited Lecture. Yale University, New Haven, CT. March 1, 2018.
  • “Lectura Boccaccii: The Consolatory letter to Pino de’ Rossi as a pamphlet of Innocence.” Plenary session for the American Boccaccio Association at the Modern Language Association. Philadelphia, PA. January 7, 2017.
  • “Boccaccio and the Florentine Coup (1360-61).” Invited Lecture. Villa I Tatti, Florence, Italy. October 6, 2015.
  • Boccaccio and the Florentine Coup (1360-61).” Invited Lecture. University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS. March 3, 2015.
  • “Boccaccio and the Florentine Coup (1360-61).” Notre Dame University, Notre-Dame, IN. November 20, 2014.
  • “Boccaccio’s On Famous Women: Humanistic portraits of the female identity.” Emory University, Atlanta, GA. April 7, 2014.
  • “La ricezione del De mulieribus claris nel XX secolo.” Invited speaker. Boccaccio in Europa, at Universität Zürich, Switzerland. November 28-29, 2013.
  • “Il pensiero anti-tirannide nel De mulieribus claris.” Invited speaker. Boccaccio politico, at the Università degli Studi di Bologna, Italy. July 19-21, 2013.
  • “Boccaccio in America.” Universita’ per la Stranieri di Perugia, Italy. May 30, 2013.
  • “Decameron, Day 7: Under the Sign of Venus.” Invited Panelist at the Carolina Conference in Romance Languages, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. April 4-6, 2013.
  • “Boccaccio’s Famous Women: a New and Humanist Portrait of Women.” Christopher Newport University, Newport, VA. March 20, 2013.
  • “The Tale of Agilulf and his Groom.” Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT. February 22, 2007.
  • “Lectura Boccaccii: reading of Decameron III 2.” Plenary session for the American Boccaccio Association at the Modern Language Association. Philadelphia, PA. December 27-30, 2006.

Professional Services

  • President of the American Boccaccio Association (2023-2026).
  • Undergraduate Curriculum Committee for the College of Arts & Science and Vanderbilt University (2022-2023)
  • MLA Medieval and Renaissance Italian Forum executive committee member (2021-2025).
  • Vanderbilt representative to the Newberry Library Center for Renaissance Studies (2020-to date).
  • Treasurer of the American Boccaccio Association (2020-2023).
  • Heliotropia: A Forum for Boccaccio Research and Interpretation, Advisory Board member (2020-today)
  • Representative at the Faculty Senate (2019-2022).
  • Reading Board, ArNovIt (2016-to day).
  • Editorial Board, AATI online working papers (2015-18).
  • Secretary of the American Boccaccio Association (2008-2011 & 2011-2014).
  • Review Editor for The Medieval Review (2012-2014).
  • Associate editor of Heliotropia: a forum for Boccaccio Research and Interpretation (2008-2014).
  • Editor of the American Boccaccio Association Newsletter (2008-2011 & 2011-2014).
  • Co-Creator of the American Boccaccio Association Website: abaonline.us
  • Collaboration with Cheri Montgomery in editing Italian Lyric Diction Workbook. Ed. Cheri Montgomery. S.T.M. Publishers: Nashville TN, 2008.
  • Site evaluator: “Virtual Humanities Lab,” a project developed at Brown University and sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
  • Participant in organizing Tavola Italiana, Italian Film Festival, and Events at UNC-CH, Duke University and Vanderbilt University.