Announcing the 2023-24 Rome Associates

The Rome Global Gateway (RGG) has named the new 2023-24 Rome Associates. Among them, Anna Pegoretti, associate professor of Italian Literature at Roma Tre University, and Stephen Metzger, assistant in the Department of Manuscripts of the Vatican Apostolic Library.

The associates are Rome-based affiliated scholars who serve as resources for students and colleagues, convene academic events at the Gateway, and are thought partners and advisors in the development of new programs at the RGG. The program has been in existence for three years and it has become an important enrichment and resource.

Pegoretti, in addition to being associate professor of Italian Literature at Roma Tre University, also acts as co-investigator of the research project Books and Readers in Florence from the Thirteenth to the Fifteenth Century: The Library of Santa Croce . Her research interests primarily involve Medieval Italian literature, with a focus on Dante's philosophical and theological culture, the afterlife of his works, the relationship between writers and academic institutions, and the interaction of images and literature in the 13th and 14th century.

Pegoretti received her MA at the University of Bologna and a PhD in Italian Studies at the University of Pisa. From 2010 to 2016, she was a F.A. Yates short-term fellow at the Warburg Institute, a British Academy Newton International Fellow, and a research fellow at the University of Warwick. She is regularly invited to deliver papers and seminars in major conferences and international institutions (Cambridge, Johns Hopkins, Milan, Goettingen). In 2021 she was a visiting professor at the Scuola Normale Superiore (Pisa).

“Notre Dame is an international landmark of Dante Studies and the Rome Gateway has become a hub for a fruitful dialogue between Italian and International scholars,” comments Pegoretti. “I am looking forward to contributing to such a vibrant environment and to further increase the interaction between philological, historical and critical perspectives.”

Metzger earned his PhD in Medieval Studies from the University of Notre Dame in 2013. In 2017, his study of the medieval theologian Gerard of Abbeville’s theory of cognition appeared in two volumes from Brill Publishers. He received a postdoctoral License in Mediaeval Studies from the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies (Toronto) in 2023. In addition to his work on Gerard of Abbeville, Metzger has published articles on late-medieval Carthusians and on the only Latin account of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which is preserved in a manuscript in the Vatican Library. Among other projects, he is currently preparing a catalogue of all the manuscripts containing the writings of Thomas Aquinas held in the Vatican Library.

During their appointment, the associates are also potentially instrumental in the implementation of partnerships, including student exchanges, which would also serve the goal of internationalization of campus and strengthening the relationships between participating institutions.

“I am looking forward to opportunities for collaboration between the Rome Global Gateway and the Vatican Library,” says Metzger. “I am also happy to introduce Notre Dame students to the Library’s storied collections and aid them in their research.”

Pegoretti and Metzger will be in the role until 2025. They join the already appointed Diego Alonso-Lasheras, Stefano Biancu, Catherine Joseph Droste, O.P., Luca Marcozzi, Samuele Sangalli, Massimiliano Valente and Valentina Zaffino.

Learn more about the Rome Associates.