The Centro Studi Sara Valesio
The Centro Studi Sara Valesio (CSSV), founded in 2013 and directed by Paolo Valesio, works to support the commitment to the humanities demonstrated by Sara, who graduated with a degree in philosophy from the University of Bologna
The Center was conceived as a cultural hub and research collection that includes approximately 20,000 volumes and a vast archive, which is currently being held and organized at Palazzo Fava. It is also a place for exchange, education, research, and discussion.
Its primary focus is literary and philosophical writings, understood in their broadest sense and envisioned within the context of their contact with people, especially those who exist between different worlds (cultural, geographical, psychological) and who live and breathe the range of matters connected to this kind of movement: assimilation, migration, expatriation, repeated relocation. Hence, the focus characterizing the Center: “Writers between worlds.” The worlds in question are primarily though not exclusively Italy, Europe, and the United States, and the term “writer” is again understood in the broadest sense; not only poets, novelists, dramaturges, philosophers, but also essayists, historians, sociologists, memoirists, epistolarians, translators, scriptwriters, directors, journalists, etc. In other words, the project is not merely an intellectual abstraction, as it continually stresses the relationship between textual worlds and existential experiences. Critical research encouraged in this way is necessarily sensitive to the human, social and spiritual matters that inhabit the most diverse texts.
The Centro Studi Sara Valesio places its emphasis on the cultivation of the verbal arts and in this way complements the rich activity of the Genus Bononiae. Musei nella città, traditionally focused on the figurative arts
Paolo Valesio
President, CSSV
Paolo Valesio is a writer, essayist and literary critic.
A native of Bologna, Valesio is the Giuseppe Ungaretti Professor Emeritus of Italian Literature at Columbia University in New York, where he concluded a lengthy academic career that began with studies in Bologna and Harvard and included appointments at New York University and, for a quarter century, Yale University. Since 2013, he has served as president of the Centro Studi Sara Valesio in Bologna. At Yale, Valesio founded and coordinated the “Yale Poetry Group”, a biweekly gathering of readings and conversation about poetry (1993-2003). Valesio is also founder of the journal Yale Italian Poetry -YIP (1997-2005), which he has directed under its new title, "Italian Poetry Review – IPR" since it moved to Columbia University. The journal operates today between New York, Bologna and Florence. Valesio also has a blog dedicated to literature and social trends, is frequent contributor to the online daily www.ilsussidiario.net, and acts as president of the jury of the Piero Alinari International Poetry Prize in Florence.
Organizational Structure
of the CSSV
Paolo Valesio: President
Assunta Pelli: Honorary President
Coordinator: Flavia Manservigi
Executive Board
Gian Mario Anselmi (Università di Bologna)
Andrea Battistini (Università di Bologna)
Chiara Elefante (Università di Bologna)
Marcello Neri (Europa-Universität Flensburg)
Assunta Pelli
Gino Tellini (Università di Firenze)
Fabio Roversi Monaco (President, Genus Bononiae. Musei nella Città)
Paolo Valesio (Columbia University)
Advisory Board
Ferdinando Amigoni (Università di Bologna)
Alberto Bertoni (Università di Bologna)
Martina Della Casa (Université de Haute-Alsace, Francia) - corresponding member
Guglielmo Forni Rosa (Università di Bologna)
Guido Mattia Gallerani (Università di Bologna)
Erin Larkin (Southern Connecticut State University) - corresponding member
Simone Magherini (Università di Firenze) - corresponding member
Flavia Manservigi (Museo della Città di Bologna)
Raffaele Milani (Università di Bologna)
Filippo Naitana (Quinnipiac University, USA) - corresponding member
Mauro Pesce (Università di Bologna)
Margherita Petranzan (Direttore della rivista “Anfione e Zeto”)
Markus Pohlmeyer (Europa-Universität Flensburg) - corresponding member
Alessandro Polcri (Fordham University, USA) - corresponding member
Mauro Roversi Monaco (Bologna)
Graziella Sidoli (“Italian Poetry Review – IPR”)
Paolo Valesio