The Society of Italian Studies

Study Day 'Envisioning the Afterlife: Dante and the Irish Visionary Tradition'
2024-05-20 | University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
Envisioning the Afterlife: Dante and the Irish Visionary Tradition
Study Day
20 May 2024
The Council Room, University College Cork, & online

This study day, organised by the UCC Centre for Dante Studies in Ireland, focuses on the medieval Irish vision tradition and its relationship with the Commedia, Dante Alighieri’s fourteenth-century poetic vision of the afterlife.
In collaboration with specialists in literature, theology, cosmology, history, and textual transmission, we aim to examine the particularity of medieval Irish literary visions and their ‘insular’ features, while also considering their extraordinary European circulation, especially the influence that works such as the Visio Tnugdali and Navigatio Sancti Brendani had in Italy, where they were copied, translated, and transformed. Despite the relatively high number of surviving manuscripts of these Latin and vernacular texts, the Irish visionary tradition has received little attention among Dante scholars, and its direct or indirect impact on late medieval Italy is yet to be fully explored.
This study day brings the Italian and the Irish literary traditions into dialogue via Dante in a way that appreciates their distinctiveness, while also recognising the commonalities they have in answering questions central to the medieval – and possibly modern – understanding of the self: namely, how can one be present to other realities than those immediately evident to our senses? How do writers invite readers to partake in their extraordinary visionary experiences? And how is our understanding of the miraculous and the supernatural in vision literature shaped by genre expectations and social, cultural, philosophical, and theological contexts of transmission?
In addition to hosting senior specialists and early-career scholars from Ireland, Italy, Hungary, and the UK, this study day draws upon existing research strengths at the UCC Department of Early and Medieval Irish and especially the project ‘De Finibus: Christian Representations of the Afterlife in Medieval Ireland,’ which resulted in the two-volume collection The End and Beyond: Medieval Irish Eschatology (2014).
Professor John Carey (UCC) will deliver a keynote on (dis)embodiment and (im)materiality in visionary experience, concentrating mainly on Irish texts, but also considering sources shared by Dante and the Irish, notably Visio Sancti Pauli and Gregory the Great’s Dialogues.

SIS Biennial Conference 2024
2024-06-19 - 2024-06-21 | Royal Holloway
The 2024 Biennial Conference of the Society for Italian Studies, the largest scholarly society in the UK and Ireland for the study of Italian language, literature, and culture, will take place in person at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Both presenting or not-presenting attendees can register at this link: https://onlinestore.rhul.ac.uk/product-catalogue/events-and-conferences/school-of-humanities/society-for-italian-studies-biennial-conference/society-for-italian-studies-biennial-conference
Please find all information on the conference and the conference venue at this link: https://sites.google.com/view/sisbiennial2024/home?authuser=0

Please remember to also subscribe to the Society for Italian Studies in order to participate in the conference: https://italianstudies.org.uk/the-society/membership/
Should you have any questions, please contact: SIS.biennial.2024@rhul.ac.uk

NILI-UK Event: Book Presentation 'Complete Italian'
2025-11-03 04:30 - 18:00 (Europe/London) | Online
Organised by NILI – Network of Teachers of Italian in the United Kingdom, this event will be a workshop/presentation of the book Teach Yourself Complete Italian, a self-study Italian language textbook for learners of Italian as a foreign language, written by Elena Borelli and Giulia Baronti.

During the event, the following topics will be discussed:

How to write an Italian language textbook, particularly for self-learners

How to work with a publisher during the writing process

How to present culture in a respectful, authentic, and engaging way for the self-learner

How to incorporate inclusive language and pedagogy into this type of textbook.

To sign up and receive the link, please complete the registration form here

“Choose wisely: why language matters in Dante’s Commedia” – SIS Networking Talk at Bristol by George Rayson (Cork)
2025-11-18 05:00 - 19:00 | University of Bristol
We are delighted to share that, as part of the SIS Networking Scheme, George Rayson (University College Cork) will be presenting at Bristol on the 18th of November, 5 pm, Arts Complex 1.H020 – Humanities Research Space.
His talk “Choose wisely: why language matters in Dante’s Commedia” will be delivered in hybrid format. See the details to access the online event below:
Teams link
Meeting ID: 330 386 067 301 46
Passcode: [REDACTED]

“Goat Herding in Aspromonte” – SIS Networking Talk at Edinburgh by Aurora Moxon (Cork)
2025-11-20 13:30 - 15:30 | University of Edinburgh
As part of the SIS Networking Scheme, Dr Aurora Moxon (University College Cork) will be presenting her research at Edinburgh with the support of the Society. The talk will be delivered in hybridg format on the 20th of November, 1.30 pm.
For those able to join in person, the talk will take place at: 50 George Square, Project Room, Edinburgh EH8 9LH.
For those who prefer to join online, here is the Teams link:
Join the meeting now
Meeting ID: 311 080 184 466 2
Passcode: [REDACTED]
The session will be recorded, so if the date and time don’t suit, you’ll still be able to catch up later.
Further details on this talk here.

Dante Futures 2025: New Voices in Ireland and the UK
2025-11-21 - 2025-11-22 | University of Warwick
The University of Wariwck is happy to invite you to the conference ‘Dante Futures 2025: New Voices in Ireland and the UK’. The conference is taking place on the 21st and 22nd of November at Warwick. Please find the full conference programme and venue details here.

SIS PG Colloquium at Cambridge: ‘Italian Literature and Culture through a Comparative Lens: Transnational and Transhistorical Networks’
2025-12-05 | University of Cambridge, Alison Richard Building, Cambridge, United Kingdom
The Society for Italian Studies is delighted to invite you to our 2025 Postgraduate Colloquium. This year the Colloquium will take placen at the University of Cambridge on the 5th of December. See full programme and further details here.

SIS Annual General Meeting
2026-01-17 10:30 - 16:00 | Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies, University of London, Senate House, Malet Street, London, United Kingdom
The AGM of the Society for Italian Studies in the UK and Ireland will take place on Saturday 17 January at the Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies, University of London (Senate House, Malet Street London), 10.30-4pm.

The morning session (10.30-12.30am) will be dedicated to the AGM and other Society business. The afternoon session (1.30 to 4pm) will be dedicated to research, with a focus on REF 2029 (including Q&A) and on research impact.

Speakers will include the Chair and Deputy Chair of our REF subpanel, Prof. Jane Stuart-Smith (University of Glasgow) and Prof. Susan Harrow (University of Bristol).

Lunch will be provided.

SIS Biennial Conference 2026
2026-07-09 08:00 - 2026-07-11 17:00 | Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of Italian and Modern Languages in Higher Education in Ireland, Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin are delighted to host the SIS Biennial Conference 2026 on 9-11 July 2026. Please download the CfP from here.
Proposals must be submitted using the appropriate form (Panel submission OR Paper submission) and must be sent as a single attachment (PDF) to sisdublin2026@gmail.com, by 15 December 2025. Conference participation will be confirmed by April 2026.
