Books
“The Rise of Americanism in Italy, 1888-1919” (University of Toronto Press, 2025)
“Il fabbricante di cioccolato. Nel mondo di Michele Ferrero.” Piemme, 2023.
“The Art of Objects. The Birth of Italian Industrial Culture, 1878-1928.” University of Toronto Press, 2018.
“I Passaggi obbligati di Italo Calvino. Autobiografia, memoria, identità.” Longo Editore, Ravenna, 2017.
YouTube Show Italian Innovators
“Italian Innovators” tells the stories of great modern Italians in the fields of fashion, technology, business, music and design from the 19th century to the present.
Articles
* “The Italian Occupation in the Dodecanese (1912-1923): Italy’s Early Project of a Mediterranean Modernity.” Italica. Spring 2021, 98, I: 177-194.
*“Pierrot, Perelà, and the Italian Saltimbanco. French Fumisme and the Italian Modernist Imagination.” – Incontri,33, 2018, 27-37.
* “Palazzeschi’s La passeggiata and the Urban Miniatures of the Modern World.” – Italica, 94.3 Fall 2017. 488-513.
* “Il caso Papini nel panorama modernista italiano.” – Mosaici. Journal of Italian Poetry. Vol. 5, Summer 2017 – Special Issue on Italian Modernism.
* “Memorie oltre il mito. Il caso di Due Imperi Mancati di Aldo Palazzeschi.” – Italianistica. Rivista di Letteratura italiana. vol. 1, 2017. 107-114.
* “D’Annunzio, Bernini, and the Baroque Prelude of Il Piacere.” – Forum Italicum, vol. 51, n.2, Summer 2017 – Special Issue on D’Annunzio. 1-21.
* “Ricordare l’indicibile: I Vent’anni di Alvaro e la memoria della grande guerra” in Rivista di Studi Italiani, Anno XXXIV, n.2, August 2016: 279-297.
“An Italian in Paris. De Amicis, the World Exposition of 1878, and the New Culture of Industrial Modernity” in Romance Studies, vol. 33 Nos. 3-4, November 2015, 216-229.
“Presente! The Latent Memory of Italy’s Great War in its Photographic Portraits.” in Minghelli, Giuliana, and Sally Hill edts. Stillness in Motion: Italy, Photography and the Meanings of Modernity. University of Toronto Press, 2014.
“1914. La cultura italiana prima dell’abisso”, in LineaTempo, n.4, October 2014 (9 pp.), web.
“La Novità di Maciste Alpino.” Italian Culture, XXVII, I, March 2009: 43-59.
“I Sentieri che si Biforcano di Fenoglio e di Calvino.” Atelier Poesia, X, September 2005: 49-59.
“L’Autobiografia di uno Spettatore: un Passaggio Obbligato di Italo Calvino.” Acme, LVIII, II, May-August 2005: 333-345.
Interviews & Media
TV & Podcasts
* New Books Network (Podcast). “The Rise of Americanism in Italy, 1888-1919.” Interview by Caleb Zakarin. February 2, 2026.
* RMC Story (TV channel). “La folle histoire de Nutella.” First aired on November 27, 2025.
* Family Business (Podcast). “Michele Ferrero: The Innovator Behind Nutella, Kinder, and Tic Tac.” Interview by Luke Hansen-MacDonald. April 25, 2025.
* Beauty at Work (Podcast). “Beauty and innovation: Italian science, art, and business“. Interview by Brandon Vaidyanathan. November 15, 2022.
* BBC International (Radio). “How the Paparazzi transformed photojournalism.” Interview by Radek Boschetty. October 6, 2022.
Newspapers & Journals
* Newsweek. Interview on the death of Giorgio Armani (September 4, 2025)
* City Life Magazine (Toronto). “When we think about immigration, let’s not forget.” Interview by Marc Cataldo, December 2, 2025
* Lost and found magazine. “Italian Innovators. Unveiling the Essence of Italian Luxury and Innovation.” Interview by Giovanna Bonomo. October 2023.
* We the Italians. “Telling the Italian Innovators to the Americans.” Interview by Umberto Mucci, 152, pp. 67-84, June 2022.
* Istituzioni 24. “Luca Cottini racconta Italian Innovators.” Interview by Veronica Bonelli. May 12, 2022.
* Sole 24 Ore “Da Marconi a Campari, le storie dei pionieri del made in Italy in un podcast.” Interview by Andrea Franceschi. 27 aprile 2022.
* Insula Europea. Fare accademia su YouTube: l’esperimento di “Italian Innovators.”. Interview by Ginevra Amadio. August 20, 2021.
* L’idea. Italian Innovators: A Podcast, A Website, A Classroom About Italy And Italians… Interview by Tiziano Dossena.March 6, 2021.
* La Stampa. Raccontare l’Italia in inglese. La sfida passa per piattaforme e podcast. Interview by Filomena Fantarella. February 16, 2021.
Conference Keynote Speaker
* The Unexpected Other. American Visions of Italy at the Turn of the 20th Century. March 7, 2026. Conference of the Northeast Modern Languages Association (NeMLA), Pittsburgh
* The Birth of National industry and the Crisis of Advertising. The Italian 1930s Through the Eyes of Marcello Dudovich. May 5, 2023. International Conference “Italian Posters Day,” Center for Italian Modern Art (CIMA), New York City
* Can YouTube be a part of an Italian class? The pedagogy of Italian Innovators. October 21, 2022. XV Teaching Symposium “Italian + STEM”, Montclair State University
* The Pursuit of Excellence. The Italian Way to Distinction. June 5, 2022. International Conference of the Canadian Association of Italian Studies (CAIS)
* What is the Source of Originality? Italian Design & Cultural Imagination. April 23, 2022. Chapman University. Design & Culture: An Italian Perspective.
* The Pursuit of Excellence. Experimentation, Creativity, and Innovation in the Italian Milieu. March 25, 2021. International Conference “Italian Experiments” organized by the California Interdisciplinary Consortium for Italian Studies (CICIS)
* L’immaginario del prodotto italiano negli Stati Uniti del dopoguerra, June 26, 2021. International Conference “Consumismi Transatlantici Moderni: Culture del consumo e prodotti italiani negli Stati Uniti del dopoguerra, 1949-1972” organized by the Università di Scienze Gastronomiche in Pollenzo, Italy
Corporate Presentations
* Speaking Details. The Accessories of Italian Fashion. April 22, 2026. Italian Institute of Fashion Management
* The Rise of Americanism in Italy. March 3, 2026. Italian Community & Cultural Center, Houston
* Luxury and Speed. The Legend of Italian Carmaking. February 12, 2026. Simeone Automotive Foundation, Philadelphia
* The Italian Flair. Is there an Italian Way to Innovation? April 11, 2025. “Made in Italy Day”. Innovit. Italian Innovation and Culture Hub. San Francisco
* Italiana-Mente. A discussion Exploring How Creativity Drives Success. March 8, 2025. Presentation of the exhibit “Creative Minds. Italian American Inventors and Innovators”, Italian American Museum of Los Angeles (IAMLA), Los Angeles
* The Italian Way. What Makes Italian Design Unique? June 24, 2022. Superyacht Design festival, organized by Boat International Magazine in Milan, Italy
Invited Guest Lecturer
* The Early Americanization of Italy. American Influencers in the Peninsula at the Turn of the 20th Century. March 11, 2026. New York University
* Genealogies and Models of Italian Fashion. February 16, 2026. Colorado University
* An Object-Based History of Italian Design. July 16, 2025. Santa Clara University
* The Rise of Americanism in Italy. April 10, 2025. Stanford University
* What Makes “Made in Italy” Italian? An Object-Based Reflection on a Complex Label. March 25, 2024. University of Central Florida
* The Aesthetic Re-Making of the World. The Italian Renaissance in 10 Artifacts. March 20, 2024. The College of New Jersey
* What Do Stories Do? The Added Value of Italian Entrepreneurship. February 21, 2024. Chapman University
* What is the Value of Literature in the Internet Age? Calvino’s Six Memos for the Next Millennium as a Guide to Meaningful Digital Communication. November 15, 2023. Princeton University
* Florence & Fashion. Gucci, Ferragamo, and Pucci, and the Birth of Italian Moda. November 22, 2022. Saint Jerome’s University
* The Italian Cultural Mindset as an Archetype of Design Thinking. October 26, 2022. The College of New Jersey
* The Renaissance model. At the roots of Italian design, innovation & entrepreneurship. May 27, 2022. Stanford University
* Four Faces of Fashion. What Lies Behind Italian Glamour? February 2, 2022. Fresno State University
* At the origin of Made in Italy. Fashioning Italian Industrial culture. March 26, 2021. Seton Hall University.
* Industrious objects. Enterprising subjects. February 22, 2021. University of Edinburgh
* On Italian still life painting (seminar). January 29, 2021. Dartmouth College
* The Adventure of Academic Podcasting. September 27, 2019. Brown University
* Smoke, Cigarettes, and the Modernist Ideal of a Light Being. February 20, 2015. Yale University
* Gramophones, Sound Recording, and the New Languages of Music. January 30, 2015. University of Pennsylvania.