Mario Panico

I am a semiotician working on issues related to cultural memory, heritage and visuality.

I am a research fellow (contrattista di ricerca) and adjunct professor at the University of Bologna (Department of the Arts). I am also 2025-2026 KNIR Fellow at the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome; and 2026 Residential Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies, Loughborough University, UK ("Media, Memory and History" research centre).

Among my major publications:
Spaces for Nostalgia: Difficult Memories and Material Consolations (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2024)
Rileggere Marianne Hirsch: Postmemoria e riscrittura del passato traumatico familiare (Bologna: il Mulino, 2024);
Il genere del male: Immagini e voci di donne tra violenza agita e zona grigia, co-authored with Cristina Demaria and Patrizia Violi (Milan: Meltemi, 2026)

I am currently working on two books. One (in italian) on the semiotics of cultural memory and another (in english) exploring the concepts of discomfort and proximity at perpetrator sites.