I am originally from Modena, Italy. I have received a BA and MA in Letteratura italiana from the Università degli studi di Bologna, and a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from the Medieval Institute of the University of Notre Dame. After completing my Ph.D., I taught at Vassar College and Smith College. I am very excited to be now part of the Literature Department at UCSC! I work on le Tre Corone and lay education in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. I am interested in the ways literature and education (particularly literacy) intersect with and inform each other. I have published mostly on the topic of Dante’s intellectual formation and I am currently writing a book provisionally titled “Training the Reader: Dante and the Rise of Vernacular Literacy.” The book investigates Dante’s debts to his earliest scholastic readings and his critical stance toward contemporary education.