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School of Modern Languages and Cultures

Enrica Leydi

Enrica Leydi

PhD Italian Studies

Email: enrica dot leydi at warwick dot ac dot uk

Twitter: @EnricaLeydi | Academia: Enrica LeydiLink opens in a new window

About

I am a current MPhil/PhD student in Italian Studies at the University of Warwick, funded by Chancellor’s International Scholarship, under the supervision of Prof. Fabio CamillettiLink opens in a new window.

Research

My project addresses the role played by visual culture in the oeuvre of poet-philosopher Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837), particularly in relation to his aesthetic theory and ground-breaking discussion of both traditional artworks and artifacts of various kinds.

While previous studies have focused on the art-historical sphere, my project broadens the study of Leopardi's visual culture by examining other objects, such as anatomical waxes, puppets, and landscape paintings.

Through an interdisciplinary critical framework, my project examines the problem of ‘Leopardi and visual culture’, considering objects as such and as tools shaping Leopardi’s a-systematic and yet coherent aesthetics.

Therefore I work in and around Leopardi's works, mapping references to artworks and artifacts, contextualising them in relation to contemporary visual culture, and discussing their role in Leopardi's aesthetic theory and thought.

Research Interests

I am currently working in the following main research areas:

  • Nineteenth-century Italian literature
  • Nineteenth-century visual and material culture
  • Relationships between text and image
  • Critical theory and theory of literature
  • Aesthetics

But I am also interested in:

  • Ecocriticism
  • Dante Studies

Conference Papers

  • "Cosa artificiata, e diversa molto da quella che sarebbe in natura. La campagna nell’Elogio degli uccelli e nello Zibaldone di Giacomo Leopardi", at 'Contemplare/abitare: la natura nella letteratura italiana', XXVI Congresso ADI, Naples (IT), Sept 14-16, 2023.

  • “Anatomical Machines in and around Leopardi”, at ‘Leopardi in the UK Symposium’, Christ Church, Oxford (UK), 2023.
  • “Paesaggi dell’Antropocene nelle Operette Morali di Giacomo Leopardi”, at ‘Geographies of the Present: Places and Spaces of the Anthropocene in Italy’, University College Cork, Cork (IE), Feb 24-25, 2023.
  • “Leopardi’s volcanic landscape: The Broom”, at 'ASLE-UK biannual conference', Northumbria University, Newcastle (UK), Sept 6, 2022.
  • “Dante appeso a un filo. Un adattamento per marionette della Divina Commedia”, at 'Congresso Dantesco Internazionale', Università di Bologna, Ravenna (IT), Sept 16, 2021.

Book reviews

  • Enrica Leydi, Review of Serenella Iovino, Italo Calvino’s Animals. Anthropocene Stories (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2021), in Incontri. Rivista europea di studi italiani, Vol.37 No.1 (2022), 3pp.
    Doi: https://doi.org/10.18352/inc13223

Scholarships and Awards

Chancellor’s International Scholarship, University of Warwick, 2023.

Erasmus+ Scholarship, Durham University, 2021.

Merit Scholarship for a summer school, University of Exeter, 2019.

Qualifications

MA in Italian Studies, Università di Bologna "Alma Mater Studiorum", 2023.

BA in Humanities, Università di Bologna "Alma Mater Studiorum", 2020.