Nicola Esposito

LANGUAGE INSTRUCTOR

Nicola earned his Ph.D. in Italian from the University of Notre Dame on August 3rd, 2023. He attained his undergraduate degree in Medieval Italian Literature from the Università degli Studi di Bergamo (Italy) in 2012. In 2017, he graduated summa cum laude from the Università Ca’ Foscari of Venezia (Italy), specializing in Medieval Italian Philology.
Nicola’s scholarly pursuits revolve around several authors from the Italian Late Middle Ages, including Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. Central to his academic endeavors is an unwavering focus on the writers of short stories from the Tuscan 14th-Century, as well as the intricate historical, literary, and cultural contexts that nurtured their creativity.
Nicola’s interests extend beyond his primary pursuits and encompass gender studies as well as historical inquiries into the literary and societal landscape of 13th and 14th-century Tuscany. Currently, he is investigating the appropriation of select segments from 14th-century Italian literature, characterized by their pronounced anti-Jewish themes, by intellectuals of the fascist regime, revealing their manipulative deployment with anti-Semitic undertones. Furthermore, Nicola’s research encompasses the intricate dynamics of cultural and literary exchange within the Mediterranean region during the late 14th century.

Selected articles:

• Saladin the Courteous: Legends and Lore in Late Medieval Tuscan Short Stories, «Mediaevalia», 46, 2025 (accepted for publication).

• Guarire d’amore, morire di soddisfazione. Una lettura di Pecorone XXV 2, «AR.NO.VIT: Archivio Novellistico Italiano», 10, 2025 (forthcoming).

• Frustoli gnomici e paremiaci del «senno del ditto Dante» nei novellieri Toscani dei secoli XIV-XV, «Carte Romanze», 12/1 (2024), pp. 275-305.

• La tradizione manoscritta del Pecorone di ser Giovanni, «Italia Medioevale e Umanistica», 64, 2023, pp. 143-200.

• Sullo statuto delle ballate del Decameron: tra cultura cortese e fascinazioni cavalleresche, «L’Ellisse. Studi storici di letteratura italiana», XVIII/I, 2023, pp. 7-20.