ACADEMIC CURRICULUM VITAE
CURRENT AND PREVIOUS ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
2021–present | Associate Professor / Senior Academic Researcher in History of Religions, Department of History and Cultures (DiSCi), Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna.
2018–2021 | Fixed-term Senior Researcher (RTD-B) in History of Religions (M-STO/06), Department of History and Cultures (DiSCi), Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna.
2018 | Awarded the National Scientific Qualification (ASN) for Associate Professor (Second Level) in Competition Sector 11/A4 – Book and Document Sciences and Historical-Religious Sciences, Scientific-Disciplinary Sector M-STO/06 – History of Religions, unanimously.
EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS
2007–2010 | PhD in Ancient History, Religious History curriculum, University of Naples “Federico II”. Dissertation: Mythical-Ritual Functions of the Artemision Space at Munichia. Dissertation unanimously awarded a positive evaluation.
2018 | National Scientific Qualification (ASN) for Associate Professor, Competition Sector 11/A4 – Book and Document Sciences and Historical-Religious Sciences, M-STO/06 – History of Religions.
2003 | Degree in Classical Studies, Art-Historical track, University of Naples “Federico II”. Dissertation in Religions of the Classical World: Theriomorphism and Initiation: “Being Bears” at Brauron (supervisor: Marisa Tortorelli).
2016–2018 | Research Fellow, Department of Humanities, University of Salerno. Project: Defining Religion: Heuristic Paths and Hermeneutical Perspectives. Towards a Definitional Analysis of the Concept of Religion from the Early Modern Period Onwards.
2005 | Research Fellowship, Italian Institute for Philosophical Studies (IISF), Naples. Project: Metamorphism, Immolation and Atonement in Ancient Greece and in the Judeo-Christian Tradition.
2009 | Participant in the Fifth International Colloquium Mito y Performance. De Grecia a la modernidad, National University of La Plata, Argentina.
INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
2024 | Visiting Research Fellow, Institute of Religious Studies and Institute of Classical Philology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków. Fourth Thematic Workshop, LGRT – Lexicon of Greek Ritual Terminology Project, 16–30 July 2024.
2024 | Visiting Research Fellow, Instituto Universitario de Ciencias de las Religiones, Department of Classical Philology, Complutense University of Madrid. Third Thematic Workshop, LGRT Project, 18–23 May 2024.
2023 | Visiting Research Fellow, Institute of Classical Philology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków. First Thematic Workshop, LGRT Project, 25–28 July 2023.
2007–2008 | Research stay at INHA, formerly Centre Gernet-Glotz (now AnHiMA), Paris, for doctoral research and dissertation preparation.
RESEARCH LEADERSHIP AND PROJECTS Research Centres and International Networks
2023–present | Co-Director, EIDOLA – Materiality, Cognition, and History of Religions Research Center, Department of History and Cultures, University of Bologna. Coordination of international academic networking and interdisciplinary collaborations, including partnerships with Aarhus University and EHESS, Paris.
2023–2024 | Academic co-advisor and permanent member of the LGRT research group, Lexicon of Greek Ritual Terminology, Jagiellonian University. International partners: University of Bologna, Complutense University of Madrid, University of Salamanca.
2022–2023 | Academic Coordinator, Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) RELEXICA – Digitizing a Lexicon. How to Work with Words for the Study of Religions in the Graeco-Roman World. European partnership involving the Universities of Bologna, Helsinki, Jagiellonian University, Complutense University of Madrid, Pablo de Olavide University of Seville, and Bielefeld University.
2020–2022 | Coordinator, UNA Europa Project LARES – Language and Religion: Lexical Change and Variation in Religious Enculturation / Acculturation Phenomena of the Ancient World. Partners: University of Bologna, University of Helsinki, Jagiellonian University, Complutense University of Madrid.
National and International Research Projects
2026–2027 | Researcher, GRoCoB – Greek Roman Context of the Bible, an Italian- and English-language reference project on the Greco-Roman context of the Bible and the interpretation of Judeo-Christian Scriptures. Entries: “Gods and Myth”, “Demons”, “Trial by Ordeal”, “Rituals”, “Sacrifice”.
2026 | Associated Investigator and Coordinator of Research Unit 3, PRIN 2026 proposal: PRO.S.O.P.O.N. – PROtotyping and Scenic Ontologies for Performance: Operational Network (between Archaeology and Multimedia). University of Bologna. Principal Investigator: Elisa Chiara Portale, University of Palermo. Not selected for funding.
2021 | Unit Member, PRIN 2020 proposal: Belonging & Mobilities: Religions, Urban Diversity, Spaces, and Memories from Antiquity to Contemporary Times. Principal Investigator and Head of Research Unit: Cristiana Facchini, University of Bologna. Not selected for funding.
2015 | Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Campania Region L.R. 5/2002 project Cultural Dynamics and Religious Identities in the Ancient Mediterranean: The Case of Campania. Project: Cults of Ancient Campania: Marginal Spaces and Cultural Encounters. Discontinuities and Survivals in the Religious Sphere.
2012–2015 | Participant in IARG – Interdisciplinary Innovations in the Study of Religion and Gender: Postcolonial, Post-secular and Queer Perspectives. Project Religion, Gender and Body Politics, Utrecht University / Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).
RESEARCH SUPERVISION AND DOCTORAL EDUCATION Doctoral Supervision and Co-Supervision
2026–present | Co-supervisor, with Fathi Bourmeche (University of Sfax), of Emna Gannouni’s doctoral project, Religion and Politics in American Foreign Policy: Christian Zionism, Lobbying and the United States Commitment to Israel. Joint supervision, University of Bologna – University of Sfax.
2024–present | Co-supervisor, with Francesco Berno (Sapienza University of Rome) and Marco Antonio Santamaría Álvarez (Complutense University of Madrid), of Andrea Mura’s doctoral project, Reconstruction of the Sapiential Message of the Theo-Cosmogony of Pherecydes of Syros, Sapienza University of Rome.
2021–2023 | Co-supervisor, with Katja Hrobat Virloget, of Arianna Carta’s doctoral project, In the Footsteps of the Goddess. Symbols of Female Power from the Neolithic to the Early 20th Century, University of Primorska / University of the Littoral, Koper.
2019–2021 | Co-supervisor, with Francisco Javier Gómez Espelosín (University of Alcalá), of Marta López Aleixandre’s doctoral project, The Mysteries of Samothrace: Origins of the Cult, University of Bologna – University of Alcalá, international joint supervision.
Doctoral Examination and Evaluation
2026 | External examiner of doctoral dissertations at the University of Salerno (RAMUS PhD Programme), including Maria Serena Chiodo’s Rhetorical Training and Exempla Historica in Plutarch’s Praecepta Gerendae Reipublicae and Carmine Nastri’s Plutarch’s Quaestiones Graecae. A Historical, Historiographical and Anthropological Commentary.
2022 | Foreign member of the Evaluation Committee for Inmaculada Hernández-Tejero Larrea’s doctoral dissertation, Equine Divinities and Horses in Hittite and Greek Religions, Complutense University of Madrid.
2019 | Full member of the Evaluation Committee for Arduino Maiuri’s doctoral dissertation, Medicine and Magic in Marcellus Empiricus, Sapienza University of Rome.
2019 | Full member of the Evaluation Committee for Pietro Giammellaro’s doctoral dissertation, Πτωχός. Towards a Theory of Begging in Ancient Greece, Sapienza University of Rome.
2017 | Foreign member of the Evaluation Committee for María Victoria Vaello Rodríguez’s doctoral dissertation, Dionysiac Epigraphy in the Classical Period, Complutense University of Madrid.
2025 | Member of the Evaluation Committee for final doctoral dissertations in the PhD Programme in History of Europe, Sapienza University of Rome.
2024 | Discussant in the annual doctoral progress review of the PhD Programme in Historical and Archaeological Sciences, University of Bologna.
2019–2020 | Member of the annual Evaluation Committee for final dissertations in the Religious History curriculum of the PhD Programme in History, Anthropology and Religions, Sapienza University of Rome.
TEACHING Core Teaching
2027 | Course leader, newly established course Language and Religion, BA Programme in Anthropology, Religions and Oriental Civilizations, University of Bologna.
2021–2024 | Module coordinator and lecturer, Introduction to the Study of Religions, BA Programme in Anthropology, Religions and Oriental Civilizations, University of Bologna.
2019–present | Course leader for Religions of the Classical World, Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean, and Seminars, University of Bologna.
2018–2019 | Course leader for Concepts and Perspectives in the Study of Religious Experiences and Seminars, University of Bologna.
2019–present | Member of examination committees for BA and MA programmes in History, Anthropology, Religions and Oriental Civilizations, Historical and Oriental Studies, Classical Philology, Archaeology and related fields, University of Bologna.
Graduate, Doctoral and Continuing Education
2026 | Invited Guest Lecturer, American College Study Abroad Program, Sant’Anna Institute, Sorrento. Lecture: Coping with the Language: euaggelion/euaggelia between Acts of Communication and Gifts of Words.
2026 | JEAN MONNET Module REMinD – Religious Minorities in Europe: Material Culture in Dialogue. Laboratory teaching on ethnographic activities in religious communities, University of Bologna.
2026–2027 | Seminar series on Ethnicity, Belonging and Otherness in the History of Scholarship on the Ancient Mediterranean. Lecture: Atlantis. From the Submerged Civilization to Constructed Otherness: Origins, Race and Identity in Modern Narratives of Antiquity.
2023 | Lecture within the seminar series Gift-Giving in the Greek and Roman World: Economy, Society and Religion. Topic: The Gift to the Gods between Thusia and Anathema.
2020–2024 | Lecturer, MA Programme in History and Culture of Food, University of Bologna. Annual teaching on food, cultural identity and religious discourse in the ancient Mediterranean.
2021 | Advanced PhD seminar, University of Bologna: Disease, Contagion, Authority: Reflections on Purification, Pollution and Guilt in the Ancient Religious System.
2021 | Centre for Religious Studies, Fondazione Collegio San Carlo, Modena. Lecture: Hades. The Geography of the Afterlife in Classical Greece.
2019–2021 | Discussant, Graduate Career Workshops, International Career Development for History Graduates, University of Bologna.
2016–2018 | Supplementary teaching in History of Religions, Religions of the Classical World and Cultural Anthropology, University of Salerno.
THIRD MISSION, PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT AND TEACHER TRAINING
2026 | Panel Organizer and Chair, Running for the City, “Making” Citizens, UNIBO Campus, Bologna Marathon / University of Bologna public engagement programme, Piazza del Nettuno, Bologna.
2025 | Public lecture, Sacra Peregrina. History and Stories of Men and Gods on the Move (with G. Gregorio and G. Ingelido), within Apericerca - Aspettando la Notte Europea dei Ricercatori, University of Bologna.
2020–2026 | Lecturer in MASC – The Ancient World and Contemporary Sensibilities, a continuing professional development programme for upper-secondary school teachers, promoted by Ancient History Section - Department of History and Cultures, University of Bologna. Topics included intercultural translation, disease and religious authority, adolescence and citizenship in the ancient polis, gender-based violence, ancient conceptions of paradise and post-mortem punishment, and love and emotion in ancient Greek religion.
2022 | Lecturer in teacher-training course Historical Anthropology of the Ancient World and Teaching Differences in the Teaching of Ancient History and Classical Languages and Literatures, promoted by the Italian Society of Women Historians (SIS).
INSTITUTIONAL AND ACADEMIC SERVICE
2026 | Registered Tutor and Member of the Board of the Collegio Superiore at the University of Bologna for the 2026–2029 term.
2026 | Member, Selection Committee for the Jean Monnet 2026–2027 research scholarship in History of Religions, University of Bologna.
2026 | Member, Selection Committee for tutoring positions in History of Religions, University of Bologna.
2025–present | Official examiner/recording lecturer for Seminar Activities, BA Programme in Anthropology, Religions and Oriental Civilizations, University of Bologna.
2024 | Member, Selection Committee for a tutoring position in Anthropology, Religions and Oriental Civilizations, University of Bologna.
2023–present | Member, Quality Assurance Management Committee, MA Programme in Religions, Histories, Cultures (LM64), University of Bologna.
2023–present | Member, Internship Committee, BA Programme in Anthropology, Religions and Oriental Civilizations and MA Programme in Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology, University of Bologna.
2023 | Member, Selection Committee for a research fellowship connected with the PRIN 2022_radici project, University of Bologna.
2022 | Member, Selection Committee for tutoring positions in History of Religions, University of Bologna.
2020–present | Institutional contact person for UNA Europa Mobility, University of Bologna.
2013–2018 | Subject Expert in History of Religions and Cultural Anthropology, University of Salerno.
2011–2014 | Subject Expert in History of Religions, University of Naples “Federico II”.
OTHER RESEARCH AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
2026 | Independent external expert for qualitative assessment in an interdisciplinary Experimental Neurobiology project coordinated by Dr Giancarlo Sborgia, A.O.U. Consorziale Policlinico of Bari. Activities included blind review and classification of historical-documentary sources within an external research-validation protocol.
2026 | Supervisor of MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship proposal HEKATE – Health, Exorcism, and Knowledge of Supernatural Agency in Therapeutic and Esoteric Practices across the Ancient and Late Antique Mediterranean, proposed by Elena Urzì (Proposal ID 101378252), HORIZON-MSCA-2026-PF-01. Under evaluation.
INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATIONS
2023–present | Co-Director, EIDOLA – Materiality, Cognition, and History of Religions, University of Bologna.
2022–present | Member, Gender and Religions network, University of Bologna.
2020–present | Member, Centre for the History and Culture of Food (CeSCA), University of Bologna.
2020–present | Member, University Council for Greek and Roman History (CUSGR).
2019–present | Member, University Council for the History of Religions (CUSR).
2017–present | Member, International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR).
2017–present | Member, European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR).
2017–present | Member, Italian Association for the Philosophy of Religion (AIFR).
2016–present | Member, Italian Association of Classical Culture (AICC), Salerno Delegation.
2016–2018 | Member, Interdepartmental Observatory for Gender Studies and Equal Opportunities (OGEPO), University of Salerno.
2013–present | Member, Italian Society of Women Historians (SIS).
2011–present | Member, Italian Society for the History of Religions (SISR).
2011–2018 | Associate member, Trieste Research Group on Myth and Mythography (GRIMM).
EDITORIAL AND PEER-REVIEWING ACTIVITIES
2021–present | Series Editor, LARES – The Languages of Religions. Book Series on the Religions of Antiquity and Late Antiquity: Tools, History, Traditions. Pàtron Editore, Bologna.
2017–present | Member of the Advisory Board (Consejo de Asesor), Ilu. Revista de Ciencias de las Religiones, Complutense University of Madrid.
2016–present | Peer reviewer for international and national journals and academic series, including Mnemosyne. A Journal of Classical Studies; Numen. International Review for the History of Religions; Historia Religionum; Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni; Adamantius; Pallas; Rivista Storica dell’Antichità; Kernos; Pelargòs; Rhesis; Civiltà e religioni; and Collana Antichistica.
2013–present | Reviewer for Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni and Kernos. Revue internationale et pluridisciplinaire de religion grecque antique.
FELLOWSHIPS, AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
2017 | EASR Bursary, Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions, Leuven.
2016 | EASR Bursary, Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions, Helsinki.
2011 | ISAMG Scholarship, 51st Conference on the Study of Magna Graecia, Taranto.
2010 | Incentive Scholarship for Type B Tutoring Activities, University of Naples “Federico II”.
2007–2010 | Three-year Research Scholarship, PhD in Ancient History, University of Naples “Federico II”.
2005 | Research Scholarship, Italian Institute for Philosophical Studies (IISF), Naples.
RESEARCH AREAS
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Ancient Greek religion and Mediterranean polytheisms.
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Historical anthropology of religion and processes of identity formation.
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Sacred space, religious landscape, and forms of the territorialization of the sacred.
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Cultural memory, tradition, and the construction of knowledge.
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Divine agency, paideia, and processes of knowledge acquisition.
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Divination, gender, and religious authority.
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Animal symbolism, sacrifice, and initiatory ritual practices.
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Body, dress, and practices of visibility/invisibility.
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Theories and methods for the study of religions: discursive, performative, cognitive, and evolutionary approaches.
ORGANIZATION OF CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS, PANELS, AND SEMINARS
2026, November | LARES – Religions and Language, Languages and Religion. Discourses, Practices, and Communicative Processes in the Ancient and Late Antique Mediterranean, International Conference, 23–24 November, Aula Prodi, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2, Department of History and Cultures, University of Bologna.
2026, October | ‘Magical’ Objects. How to do Things with Materiality, EIDOLA’s HUB Autumn Meetings in Bologna, 2026 Edition, 5–6 October, Aula Prodi, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2, Department of History and Cultures, University of Bologna.
2025, November | A Cultural Immunology, EIDOLA’s HUB – Autumn Meetings in Bologna, 2025 Edition, 17–18 November, Aula Prodi, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2, Department of History and Cultures, University of Bologna.
2025, November | Capitale sociale e partecipazione civica nel Mediterraneo antico / Networks and Norms of Civic Engagement in the Ancient Mediterranean, co-organized with Alice Bencivenni, Simone Ciambelli, Alessandro Cristofori, Manuela Mongardi, Francesco Reali and Carla Salvaterra, International Conference, 13–14 November 2025, Sala delle Armi, Palazzo Malvezzi, Via Zamboni 22, Department of History and Cultures, University of Bologna.
2025, August | EIDOLA: The Constitutive Rhetoric of Embedded Materiality between Religion, Culture, and Society. I. Discourses, Representations, and Forms of Categorization, Panel Session Chair, XXIII International Association for the History of Religions World Congress, OUT OF EUROPE. Studying Religion(s) in Interconnected Worlds, 24–30 August 2025, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland.
2024, October | Le forme della reclusione. Monasteri e carceri, co-organized with Francesca Sbardella and Laura Pasquini, International Conference, 10–11 October 2024, Aula Prodi, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2, Department of History and Cultures, University of Bologna.
2024, January | Theory and Methods in the Study of Greek Ritual Terminology, Kraków International Congress organized by the LGRT Research Team, co-convened with Krzysztof Bielawski, Lech Trzcionkowski, Ana Isabel Jiménez San Cristóbal and Marco Antonio Santamaria, 25–27 January 2024, Collegium Maius, Faculty of Philology, Jagiellonian University in Kraków.
2024, January | Le strade non intraprese. Riflessioni a margine del volume “An Unnatural History of Religions. Academia, Post-truth and the Quest for Scientific Knowledge” (Bloomsbury, London 2019), Study Day marking the presentation of the departmental research centre EIDOLA. Materiality, Cognition, and the History of Religions, co-organized with Francesca Sbardella and Laura Pasquini, 16 January 2024, Aula Capitani, San Giovanni in Monte 2, Department of History and Cultures, University of Bologna.
2023, December | LGRT “Lexicon of the Greek Ritual Terminology” Project – Excellence Initiative Programme, 2nd Thematic Workshop, 15–20 December 2023, Sala delle Feste, Palazzo Malvezzi and Aula Celio, Palazzo Scarselli, Via Zamboni 22 and 38, Department of History and Cultures, University of Bologna.
2023, December | ‘Forging Identities’. L'identità nel contesto: permanenze e trasformazioni nel mondo greco e romano, co-organized with Maria Elena De Luna, Alessandro Cristofori and Stefano Tropea, International Conference, 12–13 December 2023, Aula della Specola, Palazzo Poggi and Sala delle Armi, Palazzo Malvezzi, Via Zamboni 33 and 22, Department of History and Cultures, University of Bologna.
2023, September | L’altalena dei ‘classici’. Dei pregi e dei difetti di un genere fantasmatico, co-organized with Francesca Sbardella, Annual Conference of the Consulta Universitaria per la Storia delle Religioni (CUSR), 29 September 2023, Aula Prodi, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2, Department of History and Cultures, University of Bologna.
2023, May | Digitizing a Lexicon. How to Work with Words for the Study of Religions in the Graeco-Roman World, Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme (BIP), closed seminar series, MA Programme in Historical and Oriental Sciences, 22–27 May 2023, Aula Celio, Via Zamboni 38 and Aula Capitani, San Giovanni in Monte 2, Bologna.
2023, May | Religion/s and Cognition. The Making of a Dialogue, co-organized with Francesca Sbardella, International Conference, 15–16 May 2023, Aula Prodi, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2, Department of History and Cultures, University of Bologna.
2022, February | Lexical Change and Variation in Ancient Religious Enculturation/Acculturation Phenomena – Research Foresight Workshop LARES, UNA Europa Project, concluding research foresight workshop, 1–2 February 2022, online, Jagiellonian University in Kraków.
2021, September | Coping with the Krisis. Patterns and Policies of Religious Resilience from the Hellenistic-Roman Period and Late Antiquity, Panel Session Chair, co-organized with Alice Bencivenni and Beatrice Girotti, 18th EASR – European Association for the Study of Religions Annual Conference, Resilient Religion, 30 August–3 September 2021, University of Pisa.
2021, May | Percorsi interdisciplinari della ricerca storico-religiosa sul mondo antico: temi, concetti, prospettive – First Exploratory Workshop LARES, UNA Europa Project, International Conference, 18–19 May 2021, online, University of Bologna.
2019, June | Shifting Ontologies and Religious Meaning Systems’ Processing: Practical Events and Mental Fallout, Panel Session Chair, 17th EASR – European Association for the Study of Religions Annual Conference, Religion. Continuations and Disruptions, 25–29 June 2019, Estonian Society for the Study of Religions, University of Tartu, Estonia.
2019, June | Axial Religion and the Breakdown in Communication: From the Practical Reason of Sacrificial Violence to the Discursive Rhetoric of Religious Violence. Ancient Reflections and Modern Perspectives, Panel Session Chair, 17th EASR – European Association for the Study of Religions Annual Conference, Religion. Continuations and Disruptions, 25–29 June 2019, Estonian Society for the Study of Religions, University of Tartu, Estonia.
2017, September | The Work of Culture. Making Sense in/of Religion as a Communication System, Panel Session Chair, co-organized with Alessandro Testa, 15th EASR – European Association for the Study of Religions Annual Conference, Communicating Religion, 18–21 September 2017, KU Leuven, Belgium.
2013, February | Corpi velati/corpi svelati: funzionalità e simbolismo del velo e della veste nella antichità greco-romana, Panel Session Chair, VI SIS Congress – Società Italiana delle Storiche, 14–16 February 2013, University of Padua and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
2011, June | Aurum. Funzioni e simbologie dell’oro nelle culture del Mediterraneo Antico, organizational secretary, International Conference organized by Marisa Tortorelli, 20–22 June 2011, Accademia Pontaniana, University of Naples “Federico II”.
PARTICIPATION AS SPEAKER AND DISCUSSANT in Conferences, Colloquia, Study Days and Seminars
2026, October | Voces magicae – Il mito che cura, la parola che lega. L’historiola come dispositivo cognitivo e performativo tra papiri egizi e katadesmoi greci, EIDOLA’s HUB Autumn Meetings in Bologna, ‘Magical’ Objects. How to do Things with Materiality, 5–6 October 2026, Aula Prodi, San Giovanni in Monte 2, Bologna.
2026, May | Discussant, doctoral conference Mettere in scena la storia. L’atto performativo tra rito, potere e memoria, Panel 1 – “Storia e civiltà del mondo antico e del Vicino Oriente”, PhD Programme in Historical Studies UniFi/UniSi, 19–20 May 2026, Aula Magna Storica, Rettorato, Via Banchi di Sotto 55, Siena.
2025, September | Coping with the Language: εὐαγγέλιον/εὐαγγέλια between Acts of Communication and Gifts of Words, Panel Session “Anthropological Knowledge: Materials, Approaches, and Perspectives”, chairs: Adrianna Destro and Francesca Sbardella, 11th CISSR – Centro Italiano di Studi Superiori sulle Religioni / Italian Centre for Advanced Studies on Religions Annual Meeting, 25–27 September 2025, Centro Residenziale Universitario di Bertinoro.
2025, July | Crossing Cultures. Semantic Paths of εὐαγγέλιον and εὐαγγέλια between Persistence and Discontinuities, Panel Session “Septuagint Studies: The Septuagint in Conversation with Hellenistic Greek”, chairs: Laura Bigoni and Anna Mambelli, EuARe – European Academy of Religion 2025, Eighth Annual Conference, Religion and Socio-Cultural Transformation: European Perspectives and Beyond, 8–12 July 2025, Vienna.
2024, October | Discorsi incorporati di autorità tra ortoprassi religiosa e ‘ortopedia sociale’, International Conference Le forme della reclusione. Monasteri e carceri, organized by DiSCi and the EIDOLA Research Centre, 10–11 October 2024, Aula Prodi, San Giovanni in Monte 2, Bologna.
2024, May | Performing Anathema: From “the Most Representative Document of Official Piety” to the ‘Magical’ Speech-Act Ritual, LOGR – Lexicon of Greek Religion Project Webinar, King’s College London, 29 May 2024, online.
2024, January | Ethics and Aesthetics of the Ritual: The Case of ‘arkteia teleté’ and Related Terms in Ancient Lexicographers’ Analysis, Kraków International Congress Theory and Methods in the Study of Greek Ritual Terminology, organized by the LGRT Research Team, 25–27 January 2024, Collegium Maius, Faculty of Philology, Jagiellonian University in Kraków.
2023, October | Frammenti dall’aldilà: la dimensione spirituale di P.Bon. 4, conference organized by Fabian L. W. Reiter and Giacomo Nerozzi, Nuovi studi sui papiri bolognesi, 12–13 October 2023, Aula Magna, University Library of Bologna.
2021, November | La città delle emozioni. Retoriche discorsive e costruzioni identitarie intorno ai "pericoli" della connettività nella polis classica, International Conference Le emozioni nelle poleis. Dinamiche storiche, interpretazioni storiografiche, riflessioni politiche e culturali in Grecia ‘propria’ e nell’Oriente greco, 18–21 November 2021, Aula Prodi, San Giovanni in Monte 2, Bologna.
2021, June | Counter-Intuitive Inference of Mythical Representations in Greek Religion: Two Cases of Study, International Conference in Classics and Ancient History, Panel 12 “Imagining the World: Mythology in Human Cultures in a Comparative Perspective”, 23–24 June 2021, CECH – Centro de Estudos Clássicos e Humanísticos, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Coimbra.
2021, March | Evoluzione, agency, creazione: la rivoluzione darwiniana, Workshop Religione e scienze cognitive. Dialoghi interdisciplinari intorno al volume di Armin Geertz, Approcci cognitivi ed evoluzionistici alla religione, translated by G. P. Viscardi, Pàtron, Bologna 2020, 24 March 2021, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”.
2021, January | Hades. La geografia dell’aldilà nella Grecia classica, Conference Series Immaginare l’altrove. Rappresentazioni dell’aldilà nelle culture religiose, 12 January 2021, Centro Studi Religiosi, Fondazione Collegio San Carlo di Modena, online.
2020, June | Incontri di culture: percorsi plutarchei, Seminar Series Per ricominciare. Incontri salernitani di Storia greca, 20 June 2020, Department of Humanities, FILSAM – Philology, Literature and History from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, University of Salerno.
2018, July | Il mostro nell’Anima. Ibridismo simbolico nella Repubblica di Platone, International Conference MONSTRA II. Simbologie e Funzionalità degli Esseri Mostruosi, 14 July 2018, Museo delle Religioni “Raffaele Pettazzoni”, Velletri.
2018, June | The Wilderness Experience: Mountain Cave and the Birth of the God in Ancient Greek Narratives, 16th EASR Annual Conference Multiple Religious Identities, Panel Session “Wild and Monstrous Identities” (Chair: Laura Feldt), 17 June 2018, University of Bern.
2018, April | Il fiore dello zafferano e il simbolismo del croco nel mito e nel rito greco, International Conference Piante degli Uomini, Piante degli Dèi. Miti, Credenze e Simbologie dell’Antichità Classica, 27 April 2018, Accademia Vivarium Novum, Frascati (Rome).
2017, November | A Matter of Communication. From Sacrificial Violence as a Result of Orthopraxis to Religious Violence and the Establishment of Orthodoxy, 6th IKSRS – International Kraków Study of Religions Symposium, Religion and Cultural Shifts. From Axial Age to (Post)Secular Age, 14 November 2017, Jagiellonian University in Kraków.
2017, September | Commun(icat)ing Images. Processing Religious Contents between Social Imagery and Mythical Discourse, 15th EASR Annual Conference Communicating Religion, Panel Session “The Work of Culture. Making Sense in/of Religion as a Communication System” (Chair: Giuseppina Paola Viscardi), 20 September 2017, KU Leuven.
2017, July | Behind the Mirror. Splitting, Memory and Un-self-consciousness: The Working of the ‘Reflective’ Mind in the Enneads by Plotinus, 10th Celtic Conference in Classics, Panel Session “Self, Consciousness and Conscience in Late Antiquity: Sources and Legacy” (Chairs: Diana Stanciu, Jérôme Lagouanère), 21 July 2017, Montréal, Québec.
2017, July | Topografia dello spazio sacro nel paesaggio religioso della Campania antica: il caso di Marica, International Conference Storia delle religioni e Archeologia II. I luoghi del culto, 13 July 2017, Museo delle Religioni “Raffaele Pettazzoni”, Velletri.
2017, June | The Founding Violence. The Epistemological Paradigm of Violence between Religion, Identity and Culture, EUARE – European Academy of Religion 2017 Ex Nihilo Zero Conference, Panel Session “L'Europa e le religioni. Etica e violenza” (Chair: Pierfrancesco Stagi), 22 June 2017, FSCIRE, Bologna.
2017, June | Sul valore epistemico dell’atto violento nella prassi sacrificale, International Conference Religioni e violenza. Ideologie, riti, conflitti, 13 June 2017, Museo delle Religioni “Raffaele Pettazzoni”, Velletri.
2017, May | Morfotipi mostruosi tra acosmia strutturale e multidimensionalità funzionale, Study Day on Mitologia greca ed esseri mostruosi, accompanying the publication of Igor Baglioni, Echidna e i suoi discendenti. Studio sulle entità mostruose della Teogonia esiodea, 19 May 2017, National Research Council (CNR), Rome.
2017, May | Modellare identità, tramandare memoria, riformare la polis. A proposito di Munico: un eroe eponimo tra mito e storia, International Colloquium Héros fondateurs et identités communautaires dans l’Antiquité, entre mythe, rite et politique, 4 May 2017, Université Grenoble Alpes.
2017, March | Memoria, identità e cultura alimentare dalla poesia omerica alla riflessione platonica, AICC – Associazione Italiana di Cultura Classica Conference Series Pane e alimentazione nel mondo antico, 30 March 2017, Liceo Classico Statale “Torquato Tasso”, Salerno.
2017, March | Beyond the Yawning Chasm. The Dark Side of Creation in the Mythical Imagery of the Hesiodean Cosmogony, 2nd International Conference Mythical Cosmos. Creation of the World, 17 March 2017, Institute for the Study of Religions, Faculty of Humanities and Centre for Comparative Study of Civilizations, Jagiellonian University in Kraków.
2016, November | Understanding to Explain. Shifting Ontologies and Meaning-Making Processes: Categorization, Explanation, and Meta-Representations in the Study of Religions, 5th IKSRS – International Kraków Study of Religions Symposium, Understanding and Explanation in the Study of Religions. In Memory of Walter Burkert (1931–2015), 8 November 2016, Jagiellonian University in Kraków.
2016, July | Definire la religione: dall’evoluzionismo darwiniano al cognitivismo di McNamara. Osservazioni a margine di un recente contributo di Peter Struck sul caso della antica divinazione greca, International Conference RELIGIO. Costruzione e definizione del concetto di religione, 13 July 2016, Museo delle Religioni “Raffaele Pettazzoni”, Velletri.
2016, June | Violence and Irrationality: The ‘Constitutive Rhetoric’ of Sacrifice in the Communities of Practice, 14th EASR Annual Conference Relocating Religion, Panel Session “Relocating Sacrifice in the History of Religions: Rethinking the Relationship between Theory and Practice” (Chair: Marianna Ferrara), 30 June 2016, University of Helsinki.
2016, June | Presentation of the volume Munichia: la dea, il mare, la polis. Configurazioni di uno spazio artemideo (Aracne, 2015), within the RAMUS PhD Lectures – Curriculum 1 – Chair of History of Religions, Testi e monumenti per l’ermeneutica delle religioni antiche, 23 June 2016, Department of Humanities, University of Salerno. Speakers: Luca Cerchiai, Massimiliano di Fazio, Marisa Tortorelli, Alberto Bernabé.
2016, June | Presentation of the volume Munichia: la dea, il mare, la polis. Configurazioni di uno spazio artemideo (Aracne, 2015), within the International Conference MAGIA. Costruzione e percezione del mondo magico dall’antichità all’età contemporanea, 16 June 2016, Museo delle Religioni “Raffaele Pettazzoni”, Velletri (Rome). Speakers: Marco Galli and Rachele Dubbini.
2016, April | Voci dissonanti: la sfida epistemica del pluralismo religioso. Prospettive ermeneutiche su alcuni termini chiave a partire dalla prima Età moderna, SISR 1st Annual Conference, La storia delle religioni e la sfida dei pluralismi, Panel Session “A Matter of Class: definizioni, denominazioni e tassonomie religiose in Età moderna” (Chair: Sergio Botta), 9 April 2016, Sapienza University of Rome.
2015, September | Sacred Topography and Policies of Acculturation in the Ancient Campania Religious-Historical Setting, 9th Chicago-Paris Workshop on Ancient Religions / 9ème Atelier Paris-Chicago sur les religions anciennes, Topographies of Power in the Ancient World: Placing the Gods / Topographies du pouvoir dans l’Antiquité: situer les dieux, 22 September 2015, Paris Center, University of Chicago.
2015, July | Mangiatori di pane. Il cibo come strumento di fondazione, rifondazione e consolidamento dell’identità civica da Omero a Platone, International Conference Il cibo e il sacro. Tradizioni e simbologie, 9 July 2015, Museo delle Religioni “Raffaele Pettazzoni”, Velletri.
2015, June | Mito e tragedia. Le finalità antropopoietiche del discorso mitico nel contesto drammatico, 5th Meeting on the Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean MYTHOS. Costruzione e Percezione dei Racconti Tradizionali nel Mediterraneo Antico, 10 June 2015, Museo delle Religioni “Raffaele Pettazzoni”, Velletri.
2015, April | Da Brauron a Munichia. Gli inganni della tradizione, Study Day on I santuari di Artemide in Attica. Nuove considerazioni storico-religiose, accompanying the publication of Diana Guarisco, Santuari “gemelli” di una divinità: Artemide in Attica (Bononia University Press, 2015), 1 April 2015, Department of History, Cultures and Society, Section of Ancient History, University of Bologna.
2015, February | The ‘Veil-System’ in the Practices of Invisibility, International Conference organized within the International Research Project Interdisciplinary Innovations in the Study of Religion and Gender: Postcolonial, Post-secular and Queer Perspectives, Panel IV “Embodied Communication: Religion, Sounds, and Gendered Voices”, 13 February 2015, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
2014, July | Mutazioni religiose nella Roma del Principato. Il ‘caso’ della Sibilla da Platone a Virgilio, ovvero dalla parola ispirata al libro di profezia, International Conference SAECULUM AUREUM. Tradizione e innovazione nella religione romana di epoca augustea, 10 July 2014, Museo delle Religioni “Raffaele Pettazzoni”, Velletri.
2014, June | Tra ‘esseri supremi’, ‘iddii supremi’ e ‘iddii unici’. Qualche osservazione a margine della riflessione pettazzoniana sulla natura e gli attributi della divinità tra pensiero mitico e pensiero logico-causale, 4th Meeting on the Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean Il Politeismo. Costruzione e percezione delle divinità nelle religioni del Mediterraneo antico, 14 June 2014, Museo delle Religioni “Raffaele Pettazzoni”, Velletri.
2014, January | Il problema della scelta in The Believer di Henry Bean (2001). La ricerca della verità e le radici dell’odio tra religione e ideologia, Seminar Series Le religioni e le arti – Neg/Otia nostra, Department of History, Cultures, Religions, Historical-Religious Section, 31 January 2014, Sapienza University of Rome.
2013, December | Redirecting Meanings. From Divine ‘Signs’ to Animal ‘Metaphors’: The Snake and the Dove as Aspects of God’s Wisdom in Late Antiquity, International Conference Tierreich der Himmel / Animal Kingdom of Heaven. Anthropozoologische Aspekte in Kult und Kultur der spätantiken Welt / Anthropozoological Aspects in Cult and Culture of the Late Antique World, 13 December 2013, University of Konstanz.
2013, December | Round Table: Antropologia, Archeologia, Storia delle Religioni. Temi, problemi, prospettive, reflections on the book series Antropologia e Archeologia a confronto, directed by Valentino Nizzo, 7 December 2013, Museo delle Religioni “Raffaele Pettazzoni” and Fondazione Dià Cultura, Velletri.
2013, June | L’astuzia mimetica della «ragione rituale». Il suono della nascita di Febo nelle urla penetranti di Ortigia, 3rd Meeting on the Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean Ascoltare gli Dèi / Divos Audire. Costruzione e percezione della dimensione sonora nelle religioni del Mediterraneo antico, 14 June 2013, Museo delle Religioni “Raffaele Pettazzoni” and Eikonikos, Laboratory of Iconography and Iconology of the Classical World, University of Cagliari, Velletri.
2013, June | Lessico animale e ruolo del femminile nella divinazione. Dalle ‘colombe nere’ di Dodona alle ‘pitonesse’ di Delfi, due casi esemplari / Animal Lexicon and the Role of Women in Divination, 19th Annual Symposium Cumanum The Role of Animals in Ancient Myth and Religion, 7 June 2013, Società Virgiliana, Brandeis University, Grumento Nova.
2013, February | Usi letterari e significati culturali del krédemnon in Grecia antica. La retorica del velo tra lutto e matrimonio, protezione e difesa, VI SIS Congress – Società Italiana delle Storiche, 16 February 2013, University of Padua and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
2012, September | L’insoutenable ‘lourdeur’ de la sagesse. À propos du baros/émbaros de Mounychie ou sur le savoir sacerdotal de l'homme doué du noûs et de la phronesis, 6th Chicago-Paris Workshop on Ancient Religions / 6ème Atelier Paris-Chicago sur les religions anciennes, Savoirs religieux / Religious Knowledge, 24–25 September 2012, INHA, former Centre Gernet-Glotz (AnHiMA), Paris.
2012, July | La profezia epimenidea su Munichia: stigmatizzazione di un «mnemotopo». Forme culturali di strumentalizzazione della memoria tra retorica e antiretorica, GiMeD – Giornate Messinesi dei Dottorandi e dei Giovani Ricercatori in Scienze dell’Antichità, MNHMHΣ ENEKEN. I segni della memoria, 6 July 2012, PhD School in Archaeological and Historical Sciences, University of Messina.
2012, June | Artemis, the Bear and the Mothers of Engyon. Reception of the Ionic Kourotrophos’ Model in Ancient Sicily between Mythic Survivals and Cultic Revivals, 18th Annual Symposium Cumanum Diana, Artemis and Related Cults in Ancient Greece and Italy, 22 June 2012, Società Virgiliana, Fondazione di Cuma and Brandeis University, Cuma.
2012, June | “Erro lungo la casa dall’ampia porta di Ade”. Viaggio al termine della notte, 2nd Meeting on the Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean Sulle Rive dell’Acheronte. Costruzione e percezione della sfera del post-mortem nel Mediterraneo antico, Theme Session “Geografia Infera” (FIRB Project: Spazi sacri e percorsi identitari / Sacred Spaces and Identity Paths), 13 June 2012, Sapienza University of Rome.
2011, September–October | Participation in the 51st Conference on Magna Graecia Studies Da Italìa a Italia: le radici di una identità, 29 September–2 October 2011, ISAMG – Institute for the History and Archaeology of Magna Graecia, Taranto.
2011, June | Organizational secretary, International Conference AURUM. Funzioni e simbologie dell’oro nelle culture del Mediterraneo antico, 20–22 June 2011, University of Naples “Federico II”.
2011, June | L’ibrido addosso. Il mostruoso come contrassegno plastico dell’attributo vestimentario del dio: l’aspetto terastico del portatore di egida, 1st Meeting on the Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean MONSTRA. Costruzione e percezione delle entità ibride e mostruose nel Mediterraneo antico, 10 June 2011, Museo delle Religioni “Raffaele Pettazzoni”, Velletri.
2010, July | Between Human and God: The Animal at the Crossroads of Identity and Alterity. The Goat Example in Greek Religion, Panel Session “Animals in the Greek and Roman World” (Chair: Andrea Capra), 6th Celtic Conference in Classics, 29 July 2010, University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
2010, July | Hekate’s deîpnon: tà kathármata tôn nekrôn. Portrait of a Goddess, International Conference Dining Divinely. Banqueting in Honour of the Gods, 10 July 2010, College of Arts, Department of Classics, School of Humanities, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
2010, July | Religious Speech, Sea-Power and Institutional Change. Athenian Identity Foundation and Cultural Memory in the Ephebic Naumachia at Piraeus, International Colloquium Cultural Memory and Religion in the Ancient City, 6 July 2010, Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity, University of Birmingham, West Midlands, England.
2009, June | Il sóphisma e l’arte dell’inganno, Colloquium ZETESIS (Association des doctorants et de jeunes chercheurs en Philosophie Ancienne et en Sciences de l’Antiquité), La rationalité tragique, 20 June 2009, Université Paris Ouest-Nanterre and Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris.
2009, June | Munichia. Le radici storiche di un culto artemideo: dal mito al rito, 5th International Colloquium UNLP Mito y Performance. De Grecia a la Modernidad, 16 June 2009, Centro de Estudios de Lenguas Clásicas, Área Filología Griega, Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2008, November | Strategie di sostituzione e dinamiche sacrificali nel mito dell’arkteûsai: émbaros eimí, PARSA Colloquium – Pôle Alpin de Recherche sur les Sociétés Anciennes, Linguaggi del potere, poteri del linguaggio / Langages du pouvoir, pouvoirs du langage, 6 November 2008, University of Turin.
2008, October | La consécration des jeunes filles à Ártemis. Le retour d’Iphigénie de la Tauride à Brauron, International Colloquium CELIS Expositions, sacrifices et ragoûts d’enfants, 17 October 2008, Centre de Recherches sur les Littératures et la Sociopoétique, within the programme Filiations mythiques: hostilité, violence, perversion, MSH – Université Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand II.
