The Department of Italian Studies, housed within the Casa, guarantees a constant contact with Italian literary tradition and the most recent literary criticism. Casa ltaliana Zerilli-Marimò is a prestigious site for scholarly debate between famous scholars of Italian literature from Italy and their American colleagues. Dante Isella, Robert Dombroski, Giuseppe Mazzotta, Silvano Nigro, Jeffrey Schnapp, Lina Bolzoni, Paolo Cherchi, and numerous other literary critics have discussed their research in the presence of many competitive interlocutors.

In addition to being the hub of Italian literary studies, Casa Italiana also serves as a forum for productive scholarly dis-course among diverse schools of thought and allows dif-ferent theoretical and methodological approaches to flourish. The Casa’s broad intellectual scope has wel-comed a diverse and dynamic group of experts including Renè Girard, Harold Bloom, Stephen Jay Gould, and other members of the American intellectual community who have presented public lectures and conferences.

Nonetheless, it is primarily Italian and Italian-American authors who contribute to the distinguished quality of the Department’s academic program, and offer students and interested individuals the opportunity to acquire and deepen their knowledge of both past and recent Italian lit-erary currents. Many Italian authors, among them Dacia Maraini, Gianni Riotta, Francesca Duranti, Gianni Celati, Roberto Calasso, have discussed their works at the Casa. The recently instituted Zerilli-Marimò Literary Prize has created more opportunities to encounter many of these authors in person.

The presence of various forms of Italian-American litera-ture has also continued to be consistently figured in the programs of the Casa. Gay Talese, Nino Ricci, Regina Barreca, Jay Parini, and Gioia Timpanelli, to cite a only few, are some of the most prestigious English language authors of Italian origin whose writings span a vast gamut of liter-ary forms, from novel to the short story to satirical plays.