RICHARD AND MARY ANNE FRANCISCO ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIP IN ITALIAN STUDIES
Lucca Cottini, PhD
Luca Cottini, PhD, is a scholar of modern Italian Literature, and a cultural historian. He received his training in Classical Philology and Literary Criticism at University of Milan, earning his BA in 2003. He specialized at Notre Dame, earning a MA in 2007, and at Harvard, earning his PhD in 2012 in Italian modernist literature and in the early industrial culture. He also holds a certificate in Digital Marketing from the Yale School of Management (2020).
His research on the 19th and 20th centuries combines a traditional literary focus—on authors like D’Annunzio, De Amicis, Pirandello, Palazzeschi, Marinetti, Papini, Alvaro, Calvino, Fenoglio, and Pavese—with a broader interdisciplinary horizon, including visual studies, social history, innovation studies and entrepreneurial strategy.
His book, I passaggi obbligati di Italo Calvino. Autobiografia, memoria, identità (Longo 2017), makes a compelling case about the unity of Calvino’s unfinished autobiography, later published as La strada di San Giovanni. His second book, The Art of Objects. The Birth of Italian Industrial Culture, 1878-1928 (University of Toronto Press, 2018), focuses on the emergence of industrial modernity in Italy at the turn of the 20th century. His third book, Il fabbricante di cioccolato. Nel mondo di Michele Ferrero (Piemme, 2023), is a biography of chocolate tycoon Michele Ferrero.
Dr. Cottini is also the host and creator of the YouTube show “Italian Innovators,” featuring profiles of great Italian entrepreneurs and industry pioneers in the fields of science, technology, design, music and education; interviews with leading Italian academics and entrepreneurs; and lessons of Italian cultural history and modernity. He is regularly invited as a speaker in academic and corporate venues, and as a contributor or interviewee in the Italian and American press and media.
About the Richard and Mary Anne Francisco Endowed Professorship in Italian Studies
The Richard and Mary Anne Francisco Endowed Professorship in Italian Studies in the Villanova University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is a distinguished academic position established in 2023 to promote excellence in the field of Italian Studies. This endowed professorship is named in honor of Villanova alumni Richard and Mary Anne Francisco, reflecting their commitment to the advancement of education and cultural understanding. The incumbent of this professorship is a leader in the field, contributing significantly to research, teaching and the enhancement of Italian Studies.