Elisa Bianchi

1) Research Profile

Elisa Bianchi specialises in Greek manuscript culture from the Palaeologan period to the Renaissance and in the relationship between manuscript and print in sixteenth-century Venice. Her research brings together palaeography, codicology, book history, and scholarly cataloguing, with particular attention to scribal practices, the individuals involved in book production, and the manuscripts used in the preparation of printed Greek editions.

Her recent work focuses on the material, textual, and cultural processes through which Greek texts were copied, corrected, organised, and transmitted during the early age of print, especially in Venice and Bologna. She is the author of the monograph Demetrio Zeno, calligrafo e consulente letterario. Tra libri a stampa e libri manoscritti nella Venezia del primo Cinquecento (Alessandria, Edizioni dell’Orso, 2022).

Since 2023, she has been a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Warburg Institute, School of Advanced Study, University of London, working on an Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project on the Greek manuscript library of Guillaume Pellicier. Since 2019, she has taught manuscript cataloguing at the University of Bologna, Ravenna Campus.

2) Education

• 2015 – PhD in Greek Palaeography (M-STO/09), Sapienza University of Rome. Her doctoral research examined Greek manuscript production in the thirteenth century, with particular attention to the so-called Fettaugen-Mode and the Beta-Gamma style.

• 2011 – Master’s degree (Laurea Specialistica) in Classics, awarded with honours, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, with a dissertation in Byzantine Philology.

3) Teaching Experience

• Since the 2019/20 academic year – Adjunct Lecturer in Manuscript Cataloguing, Master’s Degree Programme in Book and Document Studies, Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Ravenna Campus.

• 2025/26 academic year – Lecturer in Manuscript Cataloguing on the course Management of Archival and Library Heritage in the Digital Context, Ca’ Foscari Challenge School, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.

• 2021/22 academic year – Lecturer in Manuscript Cataloguing on the Master’s programme FOLIA: Cataloguing Historical Library Collections, University of Bologna, Ravenna Campus.

4) Research Appointments, Projects, and Scholarly Collaborations

• 9 January 2023–present – Postdoctoral Researcher at the Warburg Institute, School of Advanced Study, University of London, working on the AHRC-funded project Greek Manuscripts in Renaissance Venice: The Library of Guillaume Pellicier and Its Contribution to Europe’s Intellectual Heritage.

  Conducted in collaboration with the University of Turin and the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, the project is devoted to reconstructing, studying, and making accessible the Greek manuscript library assembled by Guillaume Pellicier during his embassy in Venice. Her research involves the palaeographical, codicological, and historical analysis of the manuscripts; the identification of scribes, collaborators, and exemplars; the reconstruction of book-production practices; and the preparation of scholarly descriptions for the project catalogue and digital platforms.

  Official project page:
  https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/research-fellowships/research-projects/greek-manuscripts-renaissance-venice-library-guillaume-pellicier-its-contribution-europes

  Interview about the project:
  https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/blog/greek-manuscripts-renaissance-venice-library-guillaume-pellicier-and-its-contribution-europes

• 2023–2024 – Technical and Scholarly Coordinator for the DigiLet Class project – Digitizing Letters of Classense Library, University of Bologna. Her responsibilities included supervising transcriptions and carrying out bibliographical verification for the digital presentation of the epistolary collections held by the Biblioteca Classense in Ravenna.

  https://centri.unibo.it/ludi/it/ricerca/collaborazioni

• 1 June–30 September 2022 – Guest Researcher at Ghent University, Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, Department of Linguistics, as part of a research project on Moschopoulean manuscripts of the Palaeologan period, coordinated by Professor Andrea Massimo Cuomo. Her research focused on the palaeographical analysis of manuscripts associated with Manuel Moschopoulos and, in particular, on the manuscript tradition and scholia of Sophocles’ Ajax and Electra.

  https://www.mela.ugent.be/affiliated-researchers/

• 1 November 2021–31 May 2022 – Postgraduate Research Fellow at the University of Bologna, Department of Cultural Heritage, working on the project The Greek Manuscripts of the Library of the Monastery of San Salvatore in Bologna and the Study of Greek in Bologna in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, under the scholarly supervision of Professor Paola Degni. The project investigated the formation of the collection, the activities of its scribes, and the production and circulation of Greek manuscripts in Renaissance Bologna.

• 15 February 2020–16 February 2021 – Agostino Pertusi Postdoctoral Fellow, supported by the Italian Historical Institute for the Middle Ages, the University of Bologna, the Foundation for Religious Studies in Bologna, and the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan.

  The research focused on Demetrios Zenos, a scribe, corrector, and editorial consultant active in early sixteenth-century Venice. Through the combined analysis of manuscripts and printed books, it reconstructed his collaborations with Greek scholars, editors, and printers. The results formed the basis of the monograph Demetrio Zeno, calligrafo e consulente letterario. Tra libri a stampa e libri manoscritti nella Venezia del primo Cinquecento (2022).

• 16 April–15 July 2018 – Research and editorial collaboration on the revision and preparation for publication of the edited volume Ancient Commentaries on Greek Texts. Methods and Trends of Ancient and Byzantine Scholarship / Commenti antichi ai testi greci. Metodi e tendenze dell’erudizione antica fino a Bisanzio, under the supervision of Professor Ettore Cingano.

• 1 November 2014–31 October 2015 – Research Fellow at the University of Bologna within the PRIN 2010–2011 project Nuova Biblioteca Manuscripta. Descrivere, valorizzare, documentare i manoscritti medievali d’Italia, led by Professor Stefano Zamponi, under the scholarly supervision of Professor Paola Degni. Her work involved the study, scholarly description, and digital presentation of medieval manuscripts held in Italian libraries.

5) Manuscript Cataloguing and Cultural Heritage Projects

Throughout her career, she has contributed to numerous projects involving the inventorying, study, and detailed cataloguing of Greek, Latin, and vernacular manuscripts held in Italian libraries, archives, and historic collections.

• 2022–2023 – Biblioteca Estense Universitaria, Modena: detailed cataloguing of 70 medieval and humanist manuscripts in Greek.

• 2021–2023 – Biblioteca Universitaria di Pavia: two successive appointments for the detailed cataloguing of the 290 medieval and humanist manuscripts in Latin, Greek, and the vernacular belonging to the Aldini Collection.

• 2022 – Library of the Diocesan Archive of Vigevano: inventorying and detailed cataloguing of 67 medieval and early modern manuscripts in Latin and the vernacular belonging to the Caramuel Collection and the Manuscript Collection.

• 2021 – Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo, Milan: detailed cataloguing of the 63 medieval and early modern manuscripts held in the Manuscript Collection and Music Section.

• 2019 – Censimento dei manoscritti notificati della Lombardia project: study, inventorying, and detailed cataloguing of 141 medieval and early modern manuscripts, mainly in Latin and the vernacular, held by the Fondazione Trivulzio in Milan, the private Brivio-Sforza Collection, and the Centro Nazionale di Studi Manzoniani, under the supervision of the Regional Archival and Bibliographic Superintendency for Lombardy.

Her cataloguing work has included palaeographical and codicological analysis, the identification of texts, the study of the manuscripts’ physical structure, and the preparation of scholarly descriptions for publication on platforms including ManusOnLine and Nuova Biblioteca Manoscritta.

6) Conferences, Seminars, and Invited Lectures

• 18–19 June 2026, Rome – International conference Greek Manuscripts in Renaissance Venice: The Library of Guillaume Pellicier, organised by the British School at Rome and the Warburg Institute. Paper: Actors, Roles, and Antigraphs: Scribal Collaboration and Copying Practices.

• 21 March 2025, Lyon – Workshop Bibliothèques de manuscrits au début de l’époque moderne, organised by the Centre Gabriel Naudé at Enssib in collaboration with the Greek Manuscripts in Renaissance Venice project. Paper: Inside the Greek Library of the San Salvatore Monastery in Bologna: Manuscripts and Scribes between the 15th and 16th Centuries.

• 15 April 2024, Edinburgh – Invited lecture in the University of Edinburgh’s Byzantine Studies Research Seminar Series. Lecture: The So-Called Fettaugen-Mode and Beta-Gamma Style in the 13th Century: Meaning, Origin and Diffusion.

• 15–17 September 2023, Nicosia – International conference Greek Books in the 16th Century between Venice and the Eastern Mediterranean, organised by the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies at the University of Cyprus in collaboration with the Department of Humanities at the University of Turin. Paper: Demetrio Zeno, Bernardino Donato and the Nicolini da Sabbio Printers: A Productive Partnership.

• 29 June 2023, London – Book & Print Initiative workshop, School of Advanced Study, University of London. Paper: Observations and Remarks about the Monastery of San Salvatore in Bologna and Its Greek Manuscripts.

• 4 November 2021, Vicenza – Conference Il tesoro greco della Biblioteca Bertoliana: (ri)scoperte e prospettive, Biblioteca Civica Bertoliana. Paper: Osservazioni paleografiche sui manoscritti Bertoliani 209, 508 e 598bis.

• 27 January 2020, Milan – Conference I fondi manoscritti lombardi: valore e significato, organised by the University of Milan and the Lombardy Regional Authority. Paper: Alcune considerazioni sui due panegirici in onore di Gian Giacomo Trivulzio il Magno (1441–1518): i Trivulziani 2097 e 2099.

• 28 November 2019, Parma – Workshop Parma. I manoscritti greci della Biblioteca Palatina: codice, testo e immagine, organised by the University of Parma and the Biblioteca Palatina. Paper: I fondi Palatino e Parmense e il progetto PRIN Bibliotheca Italica Manuscripta. Alcune considerazioni.

• 3–4 October 2019, Gaeta – First International Contest FuMast – The Future of Manuscript Studies, organised by the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio. Paper: Un contributo allo studio della Fettaugen-Mode: significato, origine e diffusione.

• 10–15 September 2018, Paris – IXe Colloque international de Paléographie grecque, Le livre manuscrit grec: écritures, matériaux, histoire. Participation supported by a grant from the École normale supérieure, Paris. Paper: Osservazioni sull’Ambrosianus C 308 inf. (gr. 917), importante testimone delle opere etico-religiose dell’imperatore Teodoro II Lascaris.

7) Editorial Activities and Membership of Learned Societies

• Since 2026 – Member of the Society for Renaissance Studies.

• Since 2021 – Member of the Editorial Team of SCRIPTA. An International Journal of Codicology and Palaeography, an ANVUR Class A journal published by Fabrizio Serra Editore.

• Since 2019 – Member of the Italian Association of Palaeographers and Diplomatics Scholars (Associazione Italiana Paleografi e Diplomatisti, AIPD).

  https://www.paleografidiplomatisti.org/elisa-bianchi/

8) Academic Profiles

• ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8536-8362

• Academia.edu: https://unibo.academia.edu/ElisaBianchi

• Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=boGPh6gAAAAJ&hl=en