URL for web site: https://hu-berlin.academia.edu/MattiaZangari
My research interests are directed at female sanctity, from the Middle Ages to the modern period. I am trained in history and philology, and having studied under Lina Bolzoni, expert in the word-image relationship, I attribute the same documentary value to textual as to iconographic sources. This is why my methodology is interdisciplinary. As well as studying the biographies of female saints, for many years I have studied the relationship between female sanctity and mental disturbance, and I have carried out cutting-edge research (I was the first Marie Skłodowska Curie Fellow to conduct research at the Vatican). The results of this research are gathered into a book, published by one of the most important and best-known Italian publishers (Laterza).
EDUCATION
2016 – PhD in ‘Discipline Filologiche e Linguistiche Moderne’ (70/70 con lode e dignità di stampa) Classe di Scienze Umane, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Italy ( cotutelle with the Ludwig-Maximilans-Universität München, Philosophische Fakultät für Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaften)
2013 – Master in ‘Filologia moderna’
Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia, Università della Calabria, Italy (First class honours 1st)
2011 – BA in ‘Italian Studies’
Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy (First class honours 1st)
CURRENT POSITION
2025 – present Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institut für Geschichtwissenschaften
PREVIOUS POSITIONS
2019 – 2022
Marie Skłodowska Curie Fellow (assegnista di ricerca) | Global Fellowship (G.A. 838675), Department of Humanities, Università Ca’ Foscari Venzia, Italy - Faculty of Theology, Pontificia Università Urbaniana
2018 – 2019
Assegnista di ricerca, Department SAGAS (Storia, Archeologia, Geografia, Arte e Spettacolo), Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy
– 2018
Postdoctoral Reseacher, Medici Archive Project, Florence, Italy
FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS
2025
Fritz Thyessen Fellow, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institut für Geschichtwissenschaften
Alexander von Humboldt Fellow, Frei Universität Berlin, Institut für Romanische Philologie, Italienzentrum (declined for incompatibility)
2019
MSC, Global Fellowship, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia | Pontificia Università Urbaniana,
Project’s title Mad for Him – Women, religion and Mental Illness between Middle Ages and EarlyModern Age (G.A.838675, total score: 94,60)
2018/2019
Newberry Library Chicago, Visiting Scholar
2018
University of Toronto (Center for Renaissance and Reformation Studies), Eisenbichler Fellow
2015
International Society of Franciscan Studies (SISF) – Assisi, Schlarship
2014-2016
PhD Scholarship, Gerda Henkel Stiftung
TEACHING ACTIVITIES
2015
Invited Lecturer, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Inst. für Italienische Philologie
ORGANIZATION OF SCHOLARLY MEETINGS
10/11.11.2021
Organiser and speaker (Opening Lecture) of the International and Interdisciplinary Congress
Mad for Him: Female Sanctity and Mental Illness between Middle Ages and Modern Age, in
the frame of theMSCA, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italy
30.07.2016
Co-organiser and speaker of the Seminar Bizzoche e beghine in Italia, Gargnano, Brescia
REVIEWING ACTIVITIES
2020 – present, Reviewer of Quaderni del m. ae. s – Journal of Maediae Aetatis
MEMBER OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY
2017 – Present, Medici Archive Project, New York/Florence
LANGUAGE
Italian – native speaker; English – fluent; German – fluent; French – fluent; Latin – reading and translation
