Laura Refe

Laura Refe is a researcher and faculty member in the Department of Italian Language, Literature, and Arts in the World (LILAIM) at the University for Foreigners of Perugia, where she has been conducting research and teaching in Philology of Italian Literature since December 2021. She holds a fixed-term research position under Italian national law and is actively involved in both research projects and academic instruction, including in Digital Humanities and Italian language teaching programs.

Her academic background is distinguished by numerous prestigious fellowships and research appointments, including at Villa I Tatti (Harvard University), the Warburg Institute (University of London), Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, and the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel. She earned her Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale for Associate Professor in both Italian Philology and Italian Literature.

Dr. Refe's research centers on Italian Renaissance literature, with a particular focus on Francesco Petrarca, his annotations of classical texts, and the transmission of Aristotelian philosophy in the vernacular. Her work spans textual criticism, manuscript studies, paratextual analysis, and intellectual history. She has led a national PRIN PNRR research project on 'Petrarch and the Reformation' and contributed to other major initiatives, including an ERC Starting Project on Aristotle in the Italian Vernacular.

Her recent publications reveal a sustained and deep engagement with Petrarchan studies, particularly his marginalia on Cicero’s De natura deorum and the complex textual history of his Ad Posteritatem. She also investigates Renaissance translators, manuscript provenance, and the intellectual networks of humanists like Poliziano and Boccaccio.

Among her notable honors are the 'Young Researchers 2006' Prize from the University of Messina and the 12th 'Marino Moretti' Prize for Philology (2015) for her critical edition of Petrarch’s Epistle to Posterity.

She has advised and collaborated on research projects, though specific names of students are not listed in the provided text. She is actively involved in scholarly communities, with a strong publication record in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes.

Dr. Refe is a member of academic networks and contributes to editorial and research teams, including work on the Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani and collaborative volumes on Renaissance humanism. Her work bridges traditional philology with digital and interdisciplinary approaches.