Stefano Villani

Stefano Villani is Professor of Early Modern European History at the University of Maryland, specializing in religious history and Anglo-Italian cultural relations. With a PhD from Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, his research examines cross-cultural exchanges between Britain and Italy from the 16th to 19th centuries.

His publications include the monograph Making Italy Anglican: Why the Book of Common Prayer Was Translated into Italian (Oxford University Press, 2022), which analyzes Italian translations of Anglican liturgy over four centuries. Villani co-founded the international research group EMoDiR (Early Modern Religious Dissents and Radicalism) and has held fellowships at leading institutions including the Folger Shakespeare Library and Beinecke Library.

Research interests focus on religious dissent, translation history, and the material culture of knowledge exchange. His most recent articles analyze language politics in academia and textual circulation in Baroque Italy.