Ombretta Frau

Ombretta Frau is the Dorothy Rooke McCulloch Professor of Italian at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, where she also serves as Chair of Romance Languages and Cultures and Chair of Classics and Italian. She is affiliated with the Department of Classics and Italian, Department of Romance Languages and Cultures, and the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives Faculty Advisory Board.

Dr. Frau received her Laurea from the University of Cagliari, Italy, followed by an M.A. from Boston College, and her A.M. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. She has previously taught at Boston College, Rice University, and Harvard University, where she received excellence in teaching awards.

Her scholarly interests focus on nineteenth and early twentieth-century Italian authors and public intellectuals, with particular expertise in women's literature, the material culture of literature, and Luigi Pirandello. She has published extensively on Italian women writers including Pirandello, Jolanda, Mantea, Sfinge, Mara Antelling, Annie Vivanti, Flavia Steno, Matilde Serao, and Dacia Maraini. Her research also examines motherhood, the connection between language, gender and violence online, and the relationship between fascism and culture.

Her recent publications span topics from Grazia Deledda's landscape writings to analyses of Giorgia Meloni's conservative feminism, demonstrating her ongoing engagement with both historical and contemporary Italian cultural phenomena. Her work shows a consistent focus on women writers, gender studies, and Italian cultural history across multiple centuries.

• 2022 Meribeth E. Cameron Faculty Award for Scholarship at Mount Holyoke
• President of the American Association for Italian Studies' Women Studies Caucus
• Contributor to Enciclopedia delle Donne and Dizionario Treccani

Professor Frau teaches a diverse range of courses at Mount Holyoke including Italian language, literature, and culture, with specialized courses on Children's Literature, Travel Literature, Theatre, Food culture, Fascism, and the Mediterranean. She is known for creating a friendly classroom atmosphere that encourages discussion and incorporates many pedagogical tools. Her recent talks in 2025 cover topics from Venice's San Michele to Giorgia Meloni and the rebranding of Italian fascism, demonstrating her active scholarly engagement.