College of Arts & Sciences
Global Medieval Studies
Global Medieval Studies

Events

Dante Here and Now

Dr. Riccardo Pratesi (Museo Galileo; Istituto e Museo della Scienza, Firenze)

Dr. Riccardo Pratesi graduated in Physics from the University of Florence (Italy) and received his PhD in History of Science from the University of Pisa. His research has focused on Dante’s traces in the history of science, with particular attention to Galileo’s studies on Dante’s Inferno. He will recite Dante’s verses and make them come to life for us, there and then!

Thursday, March 27th, 2025, 6:00pm
Old North 205
Georgetown Initiative Conference Room

Dante and Performance

Prof. Francesco Ciabattoni (Georgetown University)

Prof. Kristina Olson (George Mason University)

Dr. Riccardo Pratesi (Museo Galileo – Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza)

PLEASE REGISTER HERE

Prof. Francesco Ciabattoni (Georgetown University), in conversation with Prof. Kristina Olson
(George Mason University) will discuss the intricate musical and performative aspects of
Dante’s Divine Comedy. In medieval European towns, music, dance, and drama were integral to daily life, and Dante’s references to these art forms evoked a rich tapestry of shared spiritual
experiences for his contemporary readers. Prof. Ciabattoni’s talk brings this historical context to life, making it accessible and relevant for modern audiences. The presentation will be enriched by the live recitation of Dante’s cantos by Dr. Riccardo Pratesi, a Florentine, a scholar, and a brilliant reciter of the poem.

With special thanks to:
– Georgetown University Global Medieval Studies Program
– Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Washington DC
– Georgetown University Department of Italian Studies

Tuesday, March 25th, 2025, 6:00pm
Istituto Italiano di Cultura
3000 Whitehaven St NW, Washington, DC 20008

Previous Events

Dante’s “Ben far”: Politics and Economy in Inferno XV-XVII

Prof. Susanna Barsella (Fordham University)

Wednesday, February 19th, 2025, 5:00 pm

Twin Mirrors: Islam as seen by Ifa, Ifa as seen by Islam

Prof. Oludamini Ogunnaike (University of Virginia)

Co-Sponsored by Georgetown’s Theology Department. Monday, February 10th, 2025, 5:00 pm

“Tra divino e umano, tra Dante e Boccaccio”, May 1st, 2024

Prof. Elena Brizio, Other “Medicean Stars”: Medici Women and Their Agency, April 24, 2024.

Miguel Ángel Vázquez from Florida Atlantic University on “Aljamiado texts for the afterlife: The Moriscos’ carta del muerto,” April 19th, 2024

Dr. Dick Davis, A Reading From Nezami’s Khosrow and Shirin, February 26, 2024.

Carrying the Lantern Through Difficult Times: Contemporary Artists Illuminating Dante’s Path, Tuesday, November 14, 5 pm, 2023.

“RADICAL DANTE, ABOLITIONIST DANTE,” October 31st at 4:00 PM EST, 2023.

‘The Evolutions and Legacies of Premodern Fisheries’， October 18, 2023, from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM.

The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri. McNeir Auditorium, Tuesday, October 10th, 2023, 4:30pm-6:30pm

Connecting Dunhuang: Sites, Art, and Ideas along the Silk Road(s), with Dr. Michelle Wang and Dr. Brandon Dotson. April 22–23rd, 2022.

The Games We Play: Poetry Composition at Early Medieval Chinese Court Banquets, with Dr. Kay Duffy. April 21st, 2022.

Dante and Performance, with Dr. Francesco Ciabattoni. April 8th, 2022.

Worldmaking for the Afterlife: The Case of the Fangmatan Diagrams, with Dr. Michelle H. Wang. Nov. 18, 2021.

The Medieval Mediterranean: Dante and Islam, with Dr. Karla Mallette. Oct. 22, 2021.

Healing with Poisons: The Circulation of Medical Knowledge in Medieval China, with Dr. Yan Liu. Oct. 7, 2021.

The Deiphira Project: A Georgetown University Digital Symposium with Laura Morreale and Francesco Ciabattoni. Sept. 22, 2021.

The Cloisters and the Jews in Medieval Spain: A Conversation on Art, Literature, and History, with Jonathan Ray. Sept. 19, 2021.

At the Crossroads of Life and Death: Childbirth and the Medieval Church, with Barbara Newman. April 22, 2021.

Global Medieval Studies Virtual Fall Reception. Sept. 11, 2020.

Decolonization Now!, a lunchtime seminar featuring: “Towards an Indigenous Medieval Studies” with Tarren Andrews, University of Colorado, Boulder and “”Celtic” Crosses, Whiteness, and the Process of Allyship” with Maggie Williams, William Paterson University. Feb. 27, 2020.

“Text and Image in Medieval Ethiopian Illuminated Manuscripts” with Meseret Oldjira, Princeton University. Jan. 30, 2020.

“Repatriating The Cid: The Currency of Cultural Patrimony” with Robert Bayliss. Nov. 7, 2019.

The Mirror of My Heart: A Thousand Years of Persian Poetry by Women, with Dick Davis. Oct. 24, 2019.

Looking for Juan Ruiz: Remediating the Libro de buen amor in Festivals, Illustrations and Film, with Michael Solomon. Oct. 17, 2019.

Global Medieval Studies Fall Reception. Sept. 25, 2019.

Botticelli’s Secret: The Lost Drawings and the Discovery of the Renaissance. Feb. 7, 2019.

Novel Chaucer: Historical Fictions and Alternative Facts, with Bruce Holsinger. Jan. 24, 2019.

Divination, Astrology, and Prophecy: Miraculous Epistemologies in Islamic Alexander Legends, with Prof. Anna Akasoy. Nov. 13, 2018.

The Imposter Sea: The Making of the Medieval Mediterranean, with Hussein Fancy. Nov. 9, 2018.

The Art of Qur’anic Recitation, with Khadeejah Akyurt. Oct. 30, 2018.

“Thinking ‘With the Whole Body’: On the Buddhist Transvaluation of Emotion in Medieval South Asia. April 23, 2018.

Medieval Colloquium: ‘The Intermediality of Stone Sculpture and Rock-Cut Architecture in Medieval China,’ with Michelle Wang. Feb. 27, 2018.

Medieval Colloquium: Scholastics, Stars, and Magi: Albert the Great on Matthew 2, with David Collins. Dec. 11, 2017.

Theology, Inferiority, Racism, with Lindsay Kaplan. Nov. 28, 2017.

Byzantium, the Arabs, and the Rise of Islam, with Dumbarton Oaks. Oct. 13, 2017.

Medieval Colloquium: 1491 in 2015: Neomedievalism and Historical Memory in ‘The Ministry of Time.’ Oct. 6, 2017.