Daria Valentini, PhD.

Professor of Italian

dvalentini@stonehill.edu
508-565-1254
Duffy 209B
Interdisciplinary Studies

Biography

Daria Valentini was born in Italy and came to Stonehill after working as an Assistant Professor of Italian and Spanish at Regis College.

One of her first tasks was to develop the Minor in Italian Studies in 2001, of which she serves as the Program Director. She advises students who choose to study for a semester in Italy at one of many affiliated programs. Professor Valentini is also advisor to the Italian Club.

Professor Valentini's scholarly publications include several literary translations, two edited volumes, book reviews, and over a dozen research articles on a variety of subjects in Italian literature and culture, including Anna Banti, Gianna Manzini, and Italian Futurism.

As editor she has published: Italian Women and the City (2003) with Professor Janet L. Smarr (University of California at San Diego) and Beyond Artemisia: Female Subjectivity, History, and Culture in Anna Banti (2003) with Paola Carù. Her most recent work includes an entry on F. T. Marinetti in the Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama and a presentation on Futurist cuisine at the College Art Association 2008 Annual Conference. Professor Valentini enjoys teaching languages at all levels, as well as 20th century Italian literature, Italian culture, and cinema studies.

Education

  • Laurea degree, Modern Languages and Literatures, Catholic University of Milan M.A.
  • M.A. in Italian, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
  • Ph.D., Italian, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Courses Taught

  • Elementary Italian I
  • Elementary Italian II
  • Intermediate Italian I
  • Intermediate Italian II
  • Intermediate Italian III
  • Italian Conversation and Composition
  • Italian Culture & Civilization
  • Italy: Language and Identity
  • Contemporary Italy through Film
  • Directed Studies in Italian
  • Elementary Spanish I
  • Elementary Spanish II
  • Intermediate Spanish I

Selected Publications, Awards & Presentations

  • Forthcoming in 2016: “Where Women meet Resistance: Beppe Fenoglio’s War Narratives” in: Sisters in Arms.  Ed. Susan Amatangelo, Farleigh Dickinson University Press.
  • “A View from Africa: Edmondo De Amicis and the Formation of a National Identity in Post-Unification Italy” in: Forum Italicum (2013) 47: 336-45.
  • Selected 18 popular songs and wrote accompanying music-based activities (one per chapter) entitled "Angolo Musicale" in the forthcoming 8th edition of Prego!: An Invitation to Italian (NY: McGraw Hill Publishing Co., 2011).
  • Italian Women and the CityItalian Women and the City, eds. Janet Leverie Smarr and Daria Valentini (Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2003).
  • Beyond ArtemisiaBeyond Artemisia: Female Subjectivity, History, and Culture in Anna Banti, eds. Daria Valentini and Paola Carù, with an Introduction by Daria Valentini. Series eds. Dino S. Cervigni and Luigi Monga, Annali d'Italianistica, Studi e testi Series, vol. 5 ( Chapel Hill, NC: Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2003).
  • A Piercing CryA Piercing Cry - Translation of Un Grido Lacerante by Anna Banti (Milan: Rizzoli, 1981), trans. Daria Valentini and S. Mark Lewis, with an Introduction by Daria Valentini (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 1996).
  • Author of “Angolo musicale”, a series of 18 music-based activities (one per chapter) for the 8th edition of Prego!: An Introduction to Italian, (NY: McGraw Hill Publishing, 2011).
  • "Food and Anthropology in the Early Works of Matilde Serao", in Quaderni d'Italianistica (fall 2009): 87-104.
  • "Filippo Tommaso Marinetti" in: Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama, eds. Gabrielle H. Cody and Evert Sprinchorn (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007) vol. 2.
  • "Appropriation of Myth and Gender in Maria Teresa Di Lascia's Passaggio in ombra," NEMLA Italian Studies XXV-XXVI (2004): 91-105.
  • "Where East Meets West: Giuliana Morandini's Mitteleuropean Trilogy," Italian Women and the City, eds. Janet Leverie Smarr and Daria Valentini (Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2003): 174-86.
  • "Artemisia's Legacy in Contemporary Cinema," Forum Italicum, ed. Mario Mignone (SUNY-Stony Brook) 34/2 (Fall 2000): 519-527.
  • "Art, Food, and Ideology in Marinetti's La Cucina Futurista of 1932," Italian Culture, ed. Pier Antonio Baldini (Arizona State University) XVI, 2 (1998): 157-171.
  • "Amore e ginnastica," Annali d'Italianistica , ed. Dino S. Cervigni (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), XVI (1998): 103-119.
  • "Anna and Her Sisters: The Idyll of the Convent in Anna Banti," Forum Italicum, ed. Mario Mignone (SUNY-Stony Brook) 30/2 (Fall 1996): 332-350.
  • Review of "Mitteilungen des Studiengangs Deutsch-Italienische Studien/Studi Italo-Tedeschi" 5 (2001) in Annali d'Italianistica 20 (2002): 620-2.
  • Faculty Development Grant to conduct research on Anna Banti, Summer 2013.
  • SOTL/Pedagogy Grant (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning) to attend a workshop on Assessing Writing in the Foreign Language Curriculum at the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Convention, Philadelphia, PA, November 15-18, 2012.
  • Faculty Development Grant to conduct additional research and prepare a manuscript for publication entitled “The View From Africa: Edmondo De Amicis and the Formation of a National Identity in Post-Unification Italy”, Summer 2011.
  • Faculty Development Grant to conduct research on folk ethnography in Val Resia, Italy, Stonehill College, 2010.
  • Stonehill Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) Travel Grant to attend American Association of Italian Studies (2009)
  • Invited speaker at the Dante Alighieri Society of Boston, Cambridge, MA, on "Cooking and Conviviality in Nineteenth Century Italian Literature." Organized by Dr. Anna Quadri, Director of the Dante Alighieri Society. (2009)
  • SOTL Grant Recipient, Stonehill College (2008)
  • Canadian Society for Italian Studies, nominated for Secretary (2006)
  • Invited Speaker at the University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia (2006)
  • Invited Speaker at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia (2006)
  • Grant Recipient to develop Italian Placement Testing Materials, Massachusetts Department of Education (2003)
  • Invited Speaker at Wheaton College, Norton, MA (2002)
  • Summer Grant Recipient, Stonehill College (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005)
  • “Revisiting Italian Futurism, 1909-1942” for the Northeast Modern Language Association (NEMLA) Annual Convention, Toronto, April 30 – May 2, 2015.
  • “The Lives of Cities: Cityscapes in Giuliana Morandini’s Fiction” at the Midwest Modern Languages Annual Conference (MMLA), Detroit, November 2014.
  • Stonehill College Dean’s Forum Presentation entitled “Women and the Resistance in Beppe Fenoglio’s War Narratives”.,October 24, 2014.
  • “The Italian Resistance in Literature and Cinema” for the Northeast Modern Language Association (NEMLA) Annual Convention, Harrisburg, March 2014.
  • “Artifice and Disguise in Elena Ferrante’s L’amore molesto” at the Midwest Modern Language Annual Convention (MMLA), Milwaukee, November 2013.
  • Invited lecture entitled "A Powerful Alliance: Artemisia Gentileschi and Anna Banti" as part of the interdisciplinary symposium "Invoking History/ Provoking History: Encounters of Fiction, Art and History" at Pennsylvania State University, November 5, 2011.
  • Presentation entitled "The View From Africa: Edmondo De Amicis and the Formation of a National Identity in Post-Unification Italy" in the session "Italy from the Muslim World," at the "Italy From Without" conference organized by the Center for Italian Studies at Stony Brook, Oct. 14-15, 2011.
  • Presented "Folk Music and Dance Traditions of Val Resia, Italy" at the Folk Arts Center of New England, Arlington, MA, February 11, 2011.
  • Presented in round table entitled “Blended and Online Models for the Teaching of Italian,” for the Northeast Modern Language Association (NEMLA) Annual Convention, Rutgers University, February 2011.
  • Organized and Chaired session entitled “The Theme of the Journey in Italian Literature before 1900,” at the Southeast Modern Language Association (SAMLA) Annual Convention, November 2010.
  • Presented “Edmondo de Amicis: Special Reporter in Post-Unification Italy” at the Southeast Modern Language Association (SAMLA) Annual Convention, November 2010.
  • Invited lecture entitled "Social contexts in Giuliana Morandini's novels Caffè Specchi, I cristalli di Vienna and Angelo a Berlino" at Bishops University, Sherbrooke, QC, October 12, 2010.
  • Co-Organized and Co-Chaired "Literature and Cinema of the Fascist Period," a combined session with Prof. Cristiana Furlan at the Northeast Modern Language Association (NEMLA), in Montreal, Canada, April 7 - 10, 2010.
  • Presented "19th Century Naples: Customs and Literary Voices." Ladies Lodge of the Sons of Italy, Woburn, MA, November 16, 2009.
  • Presented "Thelma and Luigi: Redefining Geography and National Identity in Davide Ferrario's New Cinema." at the South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA), Atlanta, GA, November 5- 8, 2009.
  • Presented "Cooking and Conviviality in Nineteenth Century Italian Literature." Organized by Dr. Anna Quadri, Director. Dante Alighieri Society of Boston, Cambridge, MA, March 20, 2009
  • "A Neapolitan Food Extravaganza in the works of Matilde Serao: Cultural Tastes and Customs" at the Northeast Modern Language Association, Boston, February 26-March 1, 2009.
  • "Experimentation with Art and Food during Fascism in Italy" at the College Art Association National Conference, Dallas TX, February 20-23, 2008.
  • Organized and Chaired Session entitled "Voices in Contemporary Italian Fiction" at the Northeast Modern Languages Association (NEMLA); Cambridge, MA, March 31-April 1, 2005.
  • Organized and Chaired Session entitled "Insights into the Lesser Known Works by Anna Banti" at the American Association of Italian Studies (AAIS); Ottawa, CA, March 31-April 2, 2004.
  • Organized and Chaired Session entitled "Letteratura degli anni novanta" at the American Association of Italian Studies (AAIS); Washington, DC, March 11-14, 2003.
  • "The Reliance on Female Friendship in Anna Banti's Fiction" presented as part of a conference entitled "Women in Italy: 1946-1960;" University of Glasgow, Scotland, Sept. 18-20, 2002.
  • "Myth, Identity and Womanhood in Maria Teresa DiLascia," at the Northeast Modern Languages Association (NEMLA); Hartford, March 29-31, 2001.

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